Treasury Goes High-Tech With Redesigned $100 Bills

Hugh Pickens writes "AP reports that as part of an effort to stay ahead of counterfeiters, the Department of the Treasury has designed a high-tech makeover of the $100 bill with a disappearing Liberty Bell in an inkwell and a bright blue security ribbon composed of thousands of tiny lenses that magnify objects in mysterious ways. The new blue security ribbon will give a 3-D effect to the micro-images that the thousands of lenses will be magnifying. Tilt the note back and forth and you will see tiny bells on the ribbon change to 100s as they move. Tilt the note side to side and the images will move up and down."

Comments

Still out of date

[anarche]

pffft. put out a press release when you join the 20th century...

http://www.questacon.edu.au/indepth/clever/plastic_banknotes.html

Re:Still out of date

[MoonBuggy]

From the linked article:

Blank polymer substrate is also sold to a number of countries that print bank notes using their own facilities.

Admittedly, though, I don't see the Americans being particularly enthusiastic about any part of the supply chain being out of their hands.

Personally I care less about what they're made of and more about the sizes and colours. I know dollars are tinted now, but they're still basically green, and all the same size. Not a major issue, I know, but it's just that little bit less convenient when you're thumbing through your wallet.

Re:Still out of date

[anarche]

Also understand that a radical change in the materials of the notes could lead to problems in compatibility with various automated systems that deal with them.

I think this is probably a bit more important than otherwise noted.

I don't see why CSIRO wouldn't license polymer notes, they license wireless networking...

Re:Still out of date

[physburn]

err, that was 10 years ago, the 20th century, did you miss the millennium. But if you want futuristic money, read last weeks new scientist, http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627562.700-schrodingers-cash-minting-quantum-money.html?page=1

Re:Still out of date

[Kenshin]

Canada's joining you Aussies with the plastic currency soon. Next year, I think, our money is making that transition. (Let's hope they don't make the design worse. Tories + Committees generally = Bad Design.)

Re:I don't get it...

[BenEnglishAtHome]

Even if they are 100% authentic, most places will give you a seriously suspicious look if you show up with a brick of hundreds.

Until they get to know you.

I am a creature of routine. Except for the exceptions, of course, I tend to go to the same places and deal with the same people. The Chinese buffet at which I eat lunch expects me to pay my $8.40 tab with a $100 bill. The Walmart where I drop in to pay my Discover credit card expects me to pull out a $2K, bank-sleeved pile of hundreds, plus a few more that I fish out of my pocket.

Big exception: the dancers at the strip club. I love dropping $2 bills on the stage. They pick 'em up and look at 'em funny, sometimes for a long time.

I always carry $2 bills. I call 'em my "stripper-confusers".

Note: In my experience, Starbucks clerks will be nearly as perplexed nearly as often.

Re:What's The Point?

[LordKronos]

The idea is that the banks gradually remove them from circulation by sending them in to be destroyed and replaced with modern currency. It takes a while, but eventually the old bills become uncommon enough that their use becomes more suspect. For example, this is still valid us currency:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:One_US_dollar_1917.jpg

but if someone tried to pay me with one, I think I'd be a bit suspicious. Especially if they tried using a whole bunch of them at once. Counterfeiters don't just spend a $20 here and a $20 there...they are in it big time and have loads of bills they need to unload.

Re:I don't get it...

[stonewallred]

Nah, you take 5s and 10s, bleach them, then print 20s on the bleached bills. In the US the way that most places check currency is to mark it with a "magic" pen. If the mark is black it is a good bill. And since the "magic" pen just detects the fact it is genuine money, not the denomination, you can pass 20s all day at convenience stores and grocery stores.Hell, you can pass them in banks if yo mix them with real 20s in a smallish stack (too small for machine counting) They feel just like the rest and look like them unless closely inspected.