Meet your new $100 bill!
The Federal Reserve has finally unveiled the first images of the newly redesigned $100 bill, which is scheduled to go into circulation starting in October — more than two years after its initial February 2011 release date.
Uncle Sam has been working on the new $100 bill since 2003, and it’s taken so long for it to reach this point because it’s loaded with a ton of high-tech features that no one other than counterfeiters care about — like a blue 3-D security ribbon on the front that moves when the note is tilted in any direction, and an image of a color-changing gold inkwell (it changes to green when tilted), making it damn near impossible to successfully duplicate. Sorry counterfeiters!
Other features include (via The Week):
1. A blue, three-dimensional security ribbon that’s woven — not printed — into the note’s fabric.
2. Another security strip to the left of Ben’s face. It’s only visible when held up to the light.
3. A faint image of Ben’s face in the black space on the right, which can be seen on both sides of the bill.
4. Alternating images of bells and the number 100 that change as the viewing angle is tilted.
5. A liberty bell inside an inkwell that changes from copper to green when tilted.
6. A large “100” on the front that also changes color when tilted.
7. An even larger “100” vertically positioned on the back to help those with visual impairments identify the currency.
8. Raised “intaglio” printing throughout the bill to give the note its “distinctive texture.”
9. Microprinting reading “The United States of America” on Ben’s collar, “USA 100” on the watermark, and “ONE HUNDRED USA” along the golden quill.
This is only the fourth time the $100 bill has been redesigned, with the last three revamps occurring within the past 20 years alone due to the Feds having to react quickly to improved counterfeiting technology.
As far as all of those old $100 bills are concerned … the billions of notes already in circulation will remain legal, The Week reports, but starting on October 8th, when the new ones go into circulation, the old ones will be destroyed and replaced when they reach the Feds.
