New bill, new colors

The era of the greenback is on its way out the door and into oblivion.

The U. S. Treasury… The era of the greenback is on its way out the door and into oblivion.

The U. S. Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing will release a new, peach-colored $20 bill into circulation across the United States on Oct. 9. The new bill will mark the first of a series of color changes planned for U.S. paper currency over the next few years.

With a background of subtly differing peach, blue and green hues, the new bill will be, aside from one abortive attempt in the early 20th century, the first new U.S. paper currency since the Civil War not to feature green as its primary color.Other new features include the absence of a circle around Jackson’s portrait and small, yellow 20s in the background of one side.

Money enthusiasts can expect new $50 and $100 bills in 2004 and 2005, respectively, and each will have its own color scheme. Representatives at the Federal Reserve – the nation’s central bank – said the bank will try to introduce new currency designs every 7 to 10 years.

The Federal Reserve is considering including $5 and $10 bills in the color changes, as well.

Some changes to American currency haven’t turned out well. In the late 1970s, the Treasury Department promoted the Susan B. Anthony silver dollar as the future of U.S. money, touting its “cost saving efficiency” with a massive publicity campaign.

The U.S. Mint rolled out approximately one billion of the silver dollars between 1979 and 1981, but they failed to catch on. Americans tended to ignore the coins and continued doing transactions in cash and, with increasing frequency, electronically.

The most recent series of American paper currency redesigns began in 1996, when a new $100 bill was introduced and followed by new $50, $20, $5 and $10 bills in the following years. In addition to new portraits, those bills featured such innovations as light-sensitive “watermark” images of Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and others ingrained into the paper itself, vertical security strips, and ink that appears either copper or green, depending the angle of light from which it is viewed.

The new bills will continue to use all these features, as well.

Though many Americans might react strongly to the new look of currency, the owners of machines dealing in paper money will feel the change most directly. The Treasury Department has been working with the vending, gaming and public transportation industries for more than a year, mailing out more than 7,500 requested changeover information packets to help them adjust machines to accept the new bills.

Since all the planned current changes are for denominations of $20 or higher, it isn’t expected to be as difficult a problem as might arise if the $1 bill – by far the most commonly used denomination in money machine industries – were altered.

Constant combat with counterfeiters motivated the Federal Reserve to make the changes to American bills, both in 1996 and this year. Those trying to pass off false U.S. currency prefer large denomination bills, worth $20 or more.

During the Revolutionary War, one colonial Pennsylvania note explicitly stated on its front, “To Counterfeit is Death,” attesting to the widespread problem of false currency, even several hundred years ago.

By the Civil War years, when an estimated one-third of paper money was counterfeit, the rapidly advancing science of photography created rampant counterfeiting with the use of cameras. Green currency emerged as a result, since no photographic inks existing at the time could recreate the color.

The Secret Service, created by the U. S. treasury in 1865 to combat counterfeiters, also arose during the Civil War era. Their efforts against counterfeiting were so effective that their agency was chosen for the job of guarding leading U.S. government officials. Today, the Secret Service seizes 90 percent of all counterfeit U.S. currency before it enters circulation, according to the agency.

Early in the 20th century, another redesign of the $20 bill emerged briefly. This one featured George Washington and contained yellow, red, green and black ink, with a golden design on the back.

But this bill proved too costly, and green soon returned.

During the 20th century, foreign countries began trading in more valuable U.S. paper currency, instead of their own countries’ currencies. The U.S. Treasury estimates that approximately two-thirds of American paper currency in circulation exists outside of the United States – along with a large percentage of counterfeit U.S. money.

Another change to currency technology came with the rise of the “Global Economy” and the increasing reliance of businesses and consumers on electronic transactions, like the use of ATMs and check cards, computer-based shopping and direct-deposit paychecks.

Counterfeiters have rapidly taken advantage of new technologies by turning to digital counterfeiting of currency, which is easier and cheaper than old measures. According to the U.S. Secret Service, less than 1 percent of counterfeit notes in the U.S. in 1995 were digitally made. By 2002, that number had swelled to around 40 percent.

Banks and other government institutions will still accept green currency for the time being, but large-denominated green bills will eventually be phased out of circulation entirely.