US $100 dollar bill get a new face lift yesterday 21 April 2010. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke announced that the new notes will be issued on February 10, 2011. The best new security feature for the notes is its 3D Security Ribbon by Crane & Co. called Motion, containing up to 650,000 microlenses embedded in the printing which allows for an underlying image to shift when the bill is moved. The blue 3D Security Ribbon on the front of the new $100 note contains images of bells and 100s that move and change from one to the other as you tilt the note. The Bell in the Inkwell on the front of the note is another new security feature. The bell changes color from copper to green when the note is tilted, an effect that makes it seem to appear and disappear within the copper inkwell.
Photo by Wall Street Journal: New 100 dollar banknote.
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke announced that the new notes will be issued on February 10, 2011. He also announced that when this new design $100 note is issued on February 10, 2011, approximately 6.5 billion older design $100s already in circulation will remain legal tender. US currency users should know they will not have to trade in their older design notes when the new ones begin circulating. Although less than 1/100th of one percent of the value of all US currency in circulation is reported counterfeit, the $100 note is the most widely circulated and most often counterfeited denomination outside the US.
Photo by newmoney.gov: obverse of $100 dollar.
Photo by newmoney.gov: reverse of $100 dollar.
The new design for the $100 note retains three effective security features from the previous design: the portrait watermark of Benjamin Franklin, the security thread, and the color-shifting numeral 100. The new $100 note also displays American symbols of freedom, including phrases from the Declaration of Independence and the quill the Founding Fathers used to sign this historic document. Both are located to the right of the portrait on the front of the note. The back of the note has a new vignette of Independence Hall featuring the rear, rather than the front, of the building. Both the vignette on the back of the note and the portrait on the front have been enlarged, and the oval that previously appeared around both images has been removed. Finally, the 2009 redesign marks the first time the signatures of the Treasury department executives are placed on one side, and that the signature of the Treasury Secretary is above that of the United States Treasurer.
This banknote sure is beautiful and will make it harder for forgers to make the counterfeit bill. Counterfeit $100 notes using 5 dollar bill will also be useless when this notes finally replace the old one. You can find more detailed description of the new redesigned $100 dollar note and its features by visiting www.newmoney.gov.
Source: newmoney.gov, Wall Street Journal, mashable.com, Wikipedia.
