The New $5 FRN

Last week the new design for the $5 FRN was revealed. This is part of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing's efforts to thwart counterfeiters. Originally the $5 bill was not going to be redesigned but it was discovered that they were being bleached and fake $100 bills were being printed on the currency paper. This would not be that much of an issue if people were to bother checking the security features of bills when they were received. Even if the printing job on the fake $100 was top notch, it would be difficult to pass it if someone looked at the security strip since it would read "USA 5" or would have a Lincoln watermark. Instead, many companies rely on those markers that are supposed to turn black if the ink is not put on real currency paper. There have been times throughout the past many years that I have seen a clerk reach for the pen, I stop them and tell them the security features. The usual reply was that it is company policy to use the pen so it doesn't matter about the other features. This business with the $5 FRN is a key reason why relying on a pen doesn't help you. I wonder if businesses didn't trust their employees enough to actually remember the security features well enough to check them. I further wonder if in light of this new type of counterfeiting, businesses will be more likely to train their employees in detecting fake money.

With all of that said, lets turn our attention to the new design. I personally enjoy it. I'll sound like a broken record but I am disappointed that the BEP doesn't use these redesigns as an opportunity to do a true redesign of our currency. Past designs have been true works of engraved art. Browsing this link will show you why. In fact, many old printing plates from the American Bank Note Company sell for large quantities of money because of their designs. However, since we know that no one has the balls to do a drastic redesign, within the confines of the current themes, the $5 FRN looks good. We can hope that this will prevent counterfeiters from being able to successfully bleach them to make fake $100s. This will be further thwarted when the new $100 is released sometime in 2009. I am excited about the micro-lens security thread feature and am eager to see it.