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New US$100 bill includes enhanced security features

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The new US$100 note
The new US$100 note

The U.S. Government has unveiled the new design for the $100 note. Due to enter circulation on February 10, 2011, the note includes two new security features to combat counterfeiting - a blue 3-D Security Ribbon and a "Bell in the Inkwell" which changes color from copper to green when the note is tilted.

The images of bells and 100s contained in the blue 3-D Security Ribbon also changes appearance as the note is tilted thanks to tiny embedded lenses. Both new security features are designed to make it easier for everyone to easily authenticate the bills.

The $100 note is the most widely circulated and most often counterfeited denomination outside the U.S.

“The new security features announced today come after more than a decade of research and development to protect our currency from counterfeiting. To ensure a seamless introduction of the new $100 note into the financial system, we will conduct a global public education program to ensure that users of U.S. currency are aware of the new security features,” said Treasurer of the United States Rosie Rios.

Security features from the current design are retained alongside the new additions: the portrait watermark of Benjamin Franklin, the security thread, and the color-shifting numeral 100.

Other notable features of the new design include a new vignette of Independence Hall on the back, an enlarged portrait of Franklin on the front and phrases from the Declaration of Independence and the quill the Founding Fathers used above the color-changing inkwell.

When the new notes start circulating in 2011, 6.5 billion-odd $100s already in circulation will remain legal tender, so users will not have to trade in their older design notes.

More information on the new note can be found at NewMoney.gov.

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3 comments
Ed
You want to have some fun? Using Adobe Photoshop (CS2 or greater) try scanning larger US denominations ($20 and up) Adobe will refuse and put an overlay on top of what you scanned. The currency has secret identity dots that triggers a subroutine in Photoshop so it cannot be scanned in high resolution. Makes me wonder what other \"secrets\" are being used....
Eletruk
As long as it isn\'t illegal to use old bills, counterfeiters need only to fake the old bills. Why try to replicate holograms and embedded strips when all you have to do is make it look like older bills?
Peter Horne
@Ed
This is because of the \'Eurion Constellation\' - a pattern of small circles eithert yellow or green that are laid out in a pattern similar to Orion the Hunter. http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/EURion_constellation