New Five Dollar Bill Due Soon

Those crazy guys at the Treasury are at it again. This time the art work on the five dollar bill is the object of their affection. Completely new bills will start to be issued in 2008, more like the 10s and 20s, yet different than either in many ways. Abraham Lincoln, long seen in a dark oval, will be released from that prison, and made larger, along with being shown down to the top of his shoulders.

Not apparent at first, the bill will have hues of yellow and purple - our money gets more colorful with each change. Instead of the solid oval, a larger area around Lincoln forms a border with small stars. The stars are being called ’symbols of freedom’ by the mint. Along with all this, on the left of the bill are small ‘05′ symbols, also in yellow.

 If the front is odd, the reverse side is absolutely wild, almost looking like play money, with a large purple 5 in the lower, right corner. On the upper right side, the small ‘05′ symbols appear in yellow.

 The new five also gets a security strip, just like its big brothers. It is in a different location, and alternates ‘5′ with ‘USA’.

Surely this will make it much harder to print ‘funny money’. A simple job with Photoshop will no longer do the trick. The variation in color will be something that will put even the best color lasers to the test to even come close.

I still find it amazing that people don’t immediately feel the different paper that is used, the actual paper used by the Treasury has a completely different feel than any other paper. The bill paper also wears differently than other paper, it is much stronger in some ways, but still tears easily.

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[tags] money, U.S. currency, counterfeit reduction, 2008, Abraham Lincoln, Treasury, the color purple, ‘funny’ money  [/tags]