The design changes are an attempt to thwart counterfeiters who have more sophisticate technology. The 100 bill has a 2011 release date.
Changes in the new 100 dollar bill include image movement as someone tilts the bill back and forth, an inkwell that will change color from copper to green and an appearance of a liberty bell upon movement. It is a way better design.
The 100 dollar bill retains the traditional look of the U.S. currency, with Benjamin Franklin's portrait, but contains a blue three-dimensional security ribbon with alternating images of bells and the number 100 that change as the viewing angle is tilted. It also has a bell image on the front that changes from copper to green when tilted.
The 100 dollar bills also retain from the previous version a portrait watermark of Franklin, who signed the Declaration of Independence, as well as a security thread and a “color- shifting” numeral 100, officials announced at the unveiling ceremony at the Treasury in Washington.
It also features phrases from the Declaration of Independence and the quill used by the Founding Fathers to sign the document on the right hand side of the front of the bill. On the back, there's a new image of the back of Independence Hall. Both that image and Franklin's portrait have been enlarged, and designers dropped the oval around both images.
This is a picture of the design of the new 100 dollar bill design.
The release date?
The new 100 dollar bill currency will not go into circulation until Feb. 10 of next year, giving the government time to educate the public in the United States and around the world about all the changes.
The 6.5 billion or so $100 notes in circulation now will remain legal tender, Mr. Bernanke said.
Video of the new 100 dollar bill design.
