Posted on 08/26/2007 6:23:24 AM PDT by decimon
WASHINGTON - After six decades in which the venerable greenback never changed its look, the U.S. currency has undergone a slew of makeovers. The most amazing is yet to come.
A new security thread has been approved for the $100 bill, The Associated Press has learned, and the change will cause double-takes.
The new look is part of an effort to thwart counterfeiters who are armed with ever-more sophisticated computers, scanners and color copiers. The C-note, with features the likeness of Benjamin Franklin, is the most frequent target of counterfeiters operating outside the United States.
The operation of the new security thread looks like something straight out of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This magic, however, relies on innovations produced from decades of development.
It combines micro-printing with tiny lenses - 650,000 for a single $100 bill. The lenses magnify the micro-printing in a truly remarkable way.
Move the bill side to side and the image appears to move up and down. Move the bill up and down and the image appears to move from side to side.
"It is a really complex optical structure on a microscopic scale. It makes for a very compelling high security device," said Douglas Crane, a vice president at Crane & Co. The Dalton, Mass-based company has a $46 million contract to produce the new security threads.
The redesign of the $100 is about one-third of the way complete. The bill is expected to go into circulation late next year.
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On the Net:
Bureau of Engraving and Printing: http://www.moneyfactory.gov
A history of U.S. currency from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco: http://www.frbsf.org/currency/index.html
This 3-D tech will be hard to print on most photographic PC printers. They ought to make the picture of George Washington 3-D.
Here’s another Army Jody:
My honey heard me comin’ on my left right on left
I saw Jody runnin’ on his left right on left
I chased after Jody and I ran him down
Poor ol’ boy doesn’t feel good now
M.P.s came a runnin on their left right on left
The medics came a runnin’ on their left right on left
He felt a little better with a few I.V.s
Son I told you not to mess with them ELEVEN Bs (the designation for infantry in the Army)
Thanks. I think those lyrics were lifted for a pop song that made the charts.
Seriously, I have never, ever seen a cashier look for the security thread (which has been in the money since 1990), or even the watermarks in the bills produced since 1996.
But I see them blindly pull out their marker and run it across the bills.
My guess is it is at time issue. The businesses know the markers are much faster, and want their cashiers to be as efficient as possible.
I don’t remember the song, just marching to it as a kid........ I’ll be marching all day with that in my head..lol
My favorite cashier was the one who handed back my credit card because it was unsigned (ink wore off in my wallet). I was going to leave the store but she, the cashier, seemed to be waiting for something. I signed the card in front of her and she processed the transaction.
Nope, erehwemos.
Hokey Pokey?
Well, if Helicopter Ben believes in his own monetarist philosophy - the North Koreans are actually doing him a favor by saving him the trouble of having to print more money and drop it from choppers.
You could be right. But I doubt it.
Most retail businesses just want their cashiers to check something to see if the bill is good.
And, like trying to train today's publik skool grads to make correct change, its easier to make them recognize light color good, dark color bad. And that might frustrate most teens.
Sooo, roo think roo can froil my prans huh?
I often see this assertion at FR. But what does it mean? What would it mean if a $100 bill were worth $100?
Tell me as exactly, as precisely as you can.
The only time I’ve seen a thread checked was the first time they changed the $100 to have the larger Franklin face. I’ve seen pens used only a handful of times and some kind of optical scanner once.
What should we use as an exchange? Food? Please don’t say gold. Gold is not worth anything either, just what people think it’s worth. You could make this argument about everything. Do you think we should barter and trade everything we do?
And remember we gave one of the printers to the Shah of Iran just before the fall..........
More than half of the US Currency in circulation is overseas, and that's where most of the counterfeiting takes place.
$100 bills definitely get inspected when you exchange them internationally.
Not really a part of this thread, but I received a new Jefferson dollar coin today in change. At first glance I thought it looked like a casino token.
Hope I don’t get flamed for this posting.
I got some of the new quarters and thought I’d been stuck with some coins from Andorra or somewhere.
Think of it this way. If you were selling, say, a car, and someone gave you 200 one hundred dollar bills for it. Now, what can you do with those 200 pieces of paper? I guess help pay off your mortgage, or something like that. It's only good for anything if it is commonly accepted. But there is no real logical reason to accept it.
Until last century, we basically had a modified barter system. Our money represented actual tangible items. A bill represented a share of some item, like x number shares of stock represents ownership of y percent of company z.
When desperate times come, our economic system will collapse, when having cash (or mere bits of data) will not help you get food, water, shelter, etc.
What could be base our currency on instead? Well, land wouldn't be a bad idea. Engery reserves wouldn't be bad at all, either. I don't quite know. But I do know our current system is not as stable as it appears.
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