An authenticating medium that includes a hologram which is used for authentication or other purposes thereby making more complicated appearance and ease of authentication unnecessary. The medium includes a cholesteric liquid crystal layer (3) on an upper or lower surface of a transparent substrate (2), a hologram-formation layer (4) on a lower surface thereof, and reflective metal layers (5) along the fine relief of the hologram-formation layer (4). The reflective metal layers (5) are formed in a patterned form, as viewed from above, thereby obtaining an authenticating medium (1) capable of solving problems with the prior art. The cholesteric liquid crystal layer may be provided in a double-layer form, and may further have an adhesive layer (7) on the bottom.