April 1, 2002
By Michele Orzano, COIN WORLD Staff
MORE COLOR might be added to Federal Reserve notes when new designs are released in 2003, according to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Currently, the notes are black and green.
Redesigned Federal Reserve notes expected to be released in mid-2003 may bear a touch of color in the background though no decision has been made, according to a Bureau of Engraving and Printing spokesman.
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Jim Hagedorn of the BEP said the color would be in the "neutral areas" if used. He emphasized no decision has been made and any decision would be made by Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill.
BEP officials are anticipating a mid-2003 release of redesigned currency with an unveiling coming six to nine months before the release date. Decisions about the order and which denominations would be released and when have yet to be made.
The contract could be worth $55 million for 12 months plus four one-year options to follow.
According to the solicitation, some of the anti-counterfeiting features under consideration are a watermark similar to the portrait, optically variable ink that changes color when tilted, a security thread embedded vertically in the paper and perhaps "an addition of subtle colors." Except for the additional colors, the current generation of $10, $20, $50 and $100 notes has all of the mentioned features. Current generation $5 notes lack the variable ink but bear a watermark and thread. The $1 and $2 FRNs do not carry the advanced anti-counterfeiting devices.
Since the release of the most recent redesign in 1996, Coin World has reported on the continued testing of equipment and techniques for the NexGen currency. In April 2000, BEP Director Thomas A. Ferguson testified before a House subcommittee that the BEP had acquired three Simultan perfecting offset presses. The new presses allow for additional enhancements such as color tints and security devices to be affixed to the security paper before any of the intaglio printing.
These presses can also use multiple color tints on both sides of a single note applied at the same time. The presses also are capable of producing notes in a multiple of single colors, with tints of single colors of any combination and with the addition of new security features at the initial printing stage. The testing of the equipment involves an evaluation of the BEP's ability to print notes using the added technology and to see if the notes can be produced in high volume.
All currently circulating redesigned FRNs feature large off-center portraits on the face of the notes, a matching watermark, an enhanced security thread in a different location on each denomination, expanded use of microprinting elements in the design, and moire patterns that turn into wavy, irregular patterns when copied. They also bear special inks on the back that "disappear" when viewed under ultraviolet light. The redesigned $100 FRNs were released in 1996 followed by the $50 notes in 1997, the $20 notes in 1998 and the $5 and $10 notes in 1999. There continue to be no plans to redesign the $2 or $1 FRNs.
The NexGen currency will fulfill a promise made by Treasury officials to Congress. During a hearing in 1994, two years before the release of redesigned, Series 1996 $100 Federal Reserve notes, Treasury officials promised it would not be another 65 years before new designs were introduced.
Before that 1996 change, the last major changes to U.S. paper money had occurred in 1929, when Treasury reduced the dimensions and introduced new designs for all notes then in circulation: Federal Reserve notes, Federal Reserve Bank notes, silver certificates, gold certificates, United States notes and national bank notes. The decision to reduce the dimensions was a cost-saving measure. U.S. paper money underwent only minor design changes for the next six decades. By the late 1960s, only Federal Reserve notes remained in production and widespread circulation.
Testing of paper, ink and other anti-counterfeiting devices that could be used in the production of the future redesign is ongoing. So is the review of future designs by BEP designers. In 1998, BEP officials confirmed that they were testing alternative substrates (read that as something other than a paper made from the current 75 percent cotton, 25 percent linen mix). However, at that time BEP officials cautioned that the testing of such substrates was at a very, very early stage and that no one should look for such notes before the decade ends.
The BEP has also thought about future designs. Early in 2001, the BEP invited four non-BEP artists to review designs created by Bureau designers for a future series of FRNs.
However, no designs were selected as that decision is the responsibility of the Treasury secretary in office.
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