New US currency question

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 11:13 pm

This is truly trivial so you may want to just move on!

Okay, here are the redesigned fronts and backs of the $10, $20, and $50 bills:

All three bill have "Color-Shifting Ink [on the front]: Tilt your ten to check that the numeral "10" [and 20 and 50] in the lower right-hand corner on the face of the bill changes color from copper to green. The color shift is more dramatic on the redesigned currency, making it even easier for people to check their money."

All three bills have "Low-Vision Feature: The large number "10" [and 20 and 50] in the lower right corner on the back of the bill is easy to read."

Okay, so here is the front and the back of the redesigned $5 bill:

I am not sure if the old $5 bill had color-shifting ink on the front. They say: "The redesigned $5 bill retains two of the most important security features that were first introduced in the 1990s and are easy to check. " These two being the watermark and security thread.

The thing I am finding odd is this:

"Low-Vision Feature: The large, easy-to-read number “5” in the lower right corner on the back of the bill, which helps those with visual impairments distinguish the denomination, is now enlarged in the new $5 bill design and printed in high-contrast purple ink. "

Why would the $5 bill have this giant purple five on the back? Wouldn't it be even more important to see a 10 or a 20? Why are they not using purple on all the bills? Or why is green vision-helping enough on the 10's, 20's and 50's, but not enough on the 5? Is it to help distinguish a 5 from a 50? It just looks a little odd to me. I guess I'm just a very methodical and orderly person so I can't see why the fronts and back of all the bills wouldn't have the color-shifting ink (which I find very beautiful) and a largish green number on the back to help visually-impaired people. It seems like those elements of the design should be the same and then the picture in the middle and the coloring is what makes them different. Do I want to be going through my wallet and have a giant purple 5 suddenly jumping out at me? It seems so unharmonious. Oh well.

Just sign me,
An Old Dog

Oh, you can take a virtual interactive tour of all the bills here:
http://www.moneyfactory.gov/newmoney/ma ... ctiveNotes

BillChin · Post by **BillChin** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 11:22 pm

Probably a conspiracy

The other fives on the $5 bill are larger than the other numbers on the other bills. I don't know about the purple. Perhaps some powerful politician(s) has a purple ink plant in their district.

Maybe Alice Walker (author of "The Color Purple") was on one of the committees

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 3:41 am

The new $5 note is being introduced as an afterthought, and thus contains some newer design features. It had been planned that the $5 would not be redesigned with the latest update on the larger bills, but it was found that counterfeiters were bleaching fives and reprinting them as hundreds. So now they've redesigned the five with the stated intent that it "scream I'm a five".

Denny · Post by **Denny** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:11 am

you heard it here first folks

let's hear it for the New Screaming Fives!!!

Eddie, ya still out there?

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 11:39 am

BillChin wrote:
The other fives on the $5 bill are larger than the other numbers on the other bills. I don't know about the purple. Perhaps some powerful politician(s) has a purple ink plant in their district.

Yeah, okay, I could see that

.

Walden wrote:The new $5 note is being introduced as an afterthought, and thus contains some newer design features. It had been planned that the $5 would not be redesigned with the latest update on the larger bills, but it was found that counterfeiters were bleaching fives and reprinting them as hundreds. So now they've redesigned the five with the stated intent that it "scream I'm a five".

Okay, they have been successful with that. It definitely screams at me!

I tell ya, things just keep getting odder and odder.

djm · Post by **djm** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 12:26 pm

BillChin wrote:Perhaps some powerful politician(s) has a purple ink plant in their district.

Oooo, sounds like a consiracy to me.

djm

mutepointe · Post by **mutepointe** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 4:08 pm

it bothered me too that the 5 did not follow the standardized format of the other bills. i so rarely have lots of money in different denominations in my wallet. i take medication for these obsessive tendancies. the medication works, so although i noticed, i couldn't get worked up about it.

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 9:35 pm

You know, I have a likewise tendency and I suppose that really is why I find it disturbing. Everything needs to fit into a pattern of some sort. Well, thank goodness I have bigger thing to obsess about---like, how clean is the floor really?---so I've managed to stay pretty calm about this one. Relatively speaking.

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 3:14 am

I'm still missing why a big purple 5 would be better than a color-shifting 5 . . .

That reminds me . . . I made change for someone the other day and don't remember if I put the bills back in my wallet in numerical order, facing the same way, with the little heads all upright . . . excuse me a moment . . .

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 1:12 pm

Lambchop wrote:I'm still missing why a big purple 5 would be better than a color-shifting 5 . . .

That reminds me . . . I made change for someone the other day and don't remember if I put the bills back in my wallet in numerical order, facing the same way, with the little heads all upright . . . excuse me a moment . . .

Did you make sure they were wrinkle free with no folded corners?

jsluder · Post by **jsluder** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 1:28 pm

Flyingcursor wrote:
Lambchop wrote:I'm still missing why a big purple 5 would be better than a color-shifting 5 . . .

That reminds me . . . I made change for someone the other day and don't remember if I put the bills back in my wallet in numerical order, facing the same way, with the little heads all upright . . . excuse me a moment . . .
Did you make sure they were wrinkle free with no folded corners?

And that all bills of a given denomination are sorted in order from most worn to least worn?

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:09 pm

Flyingcursor wrote:
Lambchop wrote:I'm still missing why a big purple 5 would be better than a color-shifting 5 . . .

That reminds me . . . I made change for someone the other day and don't remember if I put the bills back in my wallet in numerical order, facing the same way, with the little heads all upright . . . excuse me a moment . . .
Did you make sure they were wrinkle free with no folded corners?

Yes, I always flatten them out.

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:10 pm

jsluder wrote:
Flyingcursor wrote:
Lambchop wrote:I'm still missing why a big purple 5 would be better than a color-shifting 5 . . .

That reminds me . . . I made change for someone the other day and don't remember if I put the bills back in my wallet in numerical order, facing the same way, with the little heads all upright . . . excuse me a moment . . .
Did you make sure they were wrinkle free with no folded corners?
And that all bills of a given denomination are sorted in order from most worn to least worn?

Of course!

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:13 pm

My mom washes and irons them. She claims it makes them easier to handle. I suspect she spray-starches them, too.

I've also seen her ask clerks for a "nicer one" in change.

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:34 pm

They oughtta make all of the bills different sizes and colors like in Europe so that blind folks can tell by the feel alone what they have.

Also... completely replace the dollar bill with dollar coins that are sufficiently different in look size and feel from quarters

And finally... stop making pennies and recall them as they pass through the banking system

My 2 cents.