THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 28, 1995 TAG: 9509280364
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Ben Franklin has moved slightly to the left. Physically, not politically, on the redesigned $100 bill introduced Wednesday by the Treasury Department.
He's also bigger and seems a bit younger with longer, darker hair. The new look is the first major redesign of U.S. currency in nearly 70 years.
The redesign was not introduced to improve Franklin's looks, said Larry Kumjian, the local agent in charge of the Norfolk Secret Service.
``The new currency is the culmination of a decade-long endeavor to stay ahead of counterfeiting advances in reprographic technology such as high quality copiers, desktop publishers and scanners,'' Kumjian said.
Franklin's move to off-center provides room on the bill for a watermark of his reverse-image portrait, just one of about a dozen security features that will make the bill more difficult to counterfeit.
``It might take some time for people to get used to, but I think it will be generally accepted fairly quickly,'' Kumjian said.
The last major change in U.S. currency was in 1929, when bills were reduced in size and given a uniform look. There were somesmall changes in 1990, including the first use of microscopic type.
Under tight secrecy, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing has been producing the new $100 bills for 10 days. They will begin circulating early next year.
Officials stressed that no currency will be recalled and all bills in circulation remain legal tender. They predicted that it will be years before all old bills are out of circulation.
Critics said failure to recall the old bills could blunt the anti-counterfeiting drive. Forgers can duplicate the traditional notes as long as they are around, they said.
But the Clinton administration has said that recalling old bills could destabilize the economies of foreign nations, particularly in Russia where greenbacks are hoarded as a hedge against inflation.
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, on hand for an elaborate unveiling ceremony in the Treasury Department's ornate Cash Room, said there is little cause for concern. Fewer than one of every 100,000 bills of all denominations in circulation is found to be counterfeit, he said. The Fed distributes currency through its regional banks.
The government is concerned mainly with forgers overseas, where about two-thirds of the $390 billion in U.S. paper money is in circulation. Greenbacks account for about one-fifth of the world's currency supply.
The government picked the $100 bill for the first makeover because of its favored status with counterfeiters. The $100 bill surpassed the $20 bill this year as the most likely to be counterfeited after a surge in production of counterfeiting from Colombia.
Other high-tech security changes in the bill include ink in the lower right-hand corner that causes the denomination of the bill to change color from green when viewed head-on to black when viewed at an angle. Microprinting, a printing technique that produces lettering that can only be read with a magnifying glass, and concentric fine-line printing, extremely small round lines that make up the background of Franklin's portrait, are virtually impossible to clearly reproduce on a copy machine.
Several of the features are already in use, such as the polymer security thread embedded vertically in the paper with the bill's denominations and a repeating USA that can be seen when held up to a light, but cannot be duplicated by photocopiers. The feature has been enhanced. It will glow red when held under an ultraviolet light.
More than 120 security features were tested, including holograms, before final selection, according to the Department of the Treasury. The cost of the new design was about $765,000. Security enhancements increase the cost of the bill by just a fraction of a cent.
The portrait of Franklin, a pioneer in campaigning for paper currency, is 50 percent larger than on existing bills and extends from upper to lower border.
Its move to the left will help protect against wear and tear when the bills are folded, as well as make room for the watermark.
Franklin also appears a bit younger, but officials said that was only because his hair looks darker for reasons of contrast. The engraving is from a painting that the National Portrait Gallery said probably was completed in 1785, five years before the statesman-inventor died. MEMO: (The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
ILLUSTRATION: WHAT'S CHANGED ON THE $100 BILL
Graphic
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
by CNB