Posted on 06/21/2002 4:09:00 PM PDT by ATOMIC_PUNK
The Days of the All-Green $20 Bill Are Numbered
Published: Jun 20, 2002
WASHINGTON (AP) - Andrew Jackson is first in line for a makeover, and we're not talking wrinkle removal.
The $20 bill - which carries Jackson's image - will get color and possibly other new features as part of an effort to foil high-tech counterfeiters. The new twenty could be put into circulation as early as the fall of 2003, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing said Thursday.
The $20 bill is the most counterfeited note in the United States and the second-most commonly used bill behind the $1. Jackson's last makeover was in 1998.
"Redesigning notes is going to become a way of life for modern currencies around the world to stay ahead of technology, which is just exploding and providing increased threats to security," bureau Director Thomas Ferguson said in an interview.
After the new twenty debuts, redesigned $100 bills - which are the most knocked off outside the country - and $50 bills will follow in 12 to 18 months, the bureau said. But the bureau hasn't decided which of those notes will roll out first.
In the last redesign of the nation's paper currency, Benjamin Franklin, whose face is on the $100 bill, got the first makeover in 1996. He was followed by Ulysses S. Grant on the $50 bill in 1997.
The nation's money makers are still mulling whether $5s and $10s - which were last redesigned in 2000 - will get facelifts this time around.
As with the last redesign, there are no plans to alter George Washington, whose visage is on the dollar, because counterfeiters don't bother with such small stuff. The same goes for the obscure $2 bill.
The new notes will include "subtle background colors," the bureau said. Green and black ink is now used on neutral-colored paper. Color would be added in the neutral areas. Ferguson wouldn't say which colors will be used, but said they will vary by denomination.
"The primary images, the traditional look and feel will remain with the addition of subtle background colors," Ferguson said. "We think people will be pleased."
The United States has had colorful money before. Some bills of the late 1860s were so colorful they were called Rainbow Notes, experts say.
The bureau said color will help people identify the different denominations. By itself, the addition of color isn't a security feature, but its use provides the opportunity to add more features that could deter bogus bill makers, the bureau said.
Ferguson wouldn't identify those new features. The addition of technology that looks like 3-D holograms is on the table, but no decisions have been made, he said.
Another change may include using more distinct color-shifting ink. In the last redesign, color-shifting ink that looks green when viewed straight on but black at an angle was used in a spot on some notes.
Some anti-counterfeiting features included in the last redesign will be retained, the bureau said. They include watermarks that are visible when held up to a light; embedded security threads that glow a color when exposed to an ultraviolet light; and very tiny images, visible with a magnifying glass, known as microprinting.
The size of the notes will not change and the same faces will appear on the same bills. But the portraits and buildings may be presented differently, Ferguson said. He declined to provide details.
Final designs must be approved by Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. The new $20 won't be publicly unveiled until early next year.
In the last redesign, the most noticeable change was that portraits were made bigger and moved slightly off center. That led to a number of nicknames for the notes, including Monopoly Money.
Over the years, counterfeiters have graduated from offset printing to increasingly sophisticated color copiers, computer scanners, color ink jet printers and publishing-grade software - all readily available.
In the 2001 fiscal year, $47.5 million in counterfeit bills got into circulation in the United States, the Secret Service says. Of that amount, $18.4 million - or 39 percent - were phony computer-generated notes.
When new bills are issued, the old bills remain in circulation until they wear out. The government is working with industry to make sure new bills can be read by ATMs and vending machines.
---
On the Net:
Bureau of Engraving and Printing: http://www.bep.treas.gov/
That being said, American currency is pathetic in appearance compared with other nations. Canadian Bills (which aren't worth the paper they are printed on) are at least aesthetically pleasing.
Nonetheless, I'll take a wallet full of $20s regardless of what color they are.
It would be nice to design some currency that was unmistakably American, while at the same time projected a modern esthetic and included technological features to fight counterfeiting.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.