Reported September 2008

Foiling Counterfeiters: The United States Treasury released newly designed five dollar bills on March 13, 2008, following changes to the 10, 20, and 50 dollar bills. The changes include several innovations intended to increase the difficulty of printing counterfeit bills. These include larger watermarks and difficult-to-reproduce tiny type called microprinting, as well as an embedded security thread that glows blue when exposed to ultraviolet light.

Other Desighn Changes: The general design of the bill has also been changed. The border around Abraham Lincoln's portrait has been removed, and now a field of stars borders it. Purple ink has been added -- bright in the center and fading to gray near the edges. In addition, a field of small yellow numbers representing the value of the bill, "05", has been printed on the left front side of the bill. The reverse features a large number five in the lower right corner, printed in high contrast ink to assist people with vision impairments in identifying the bill.

The Optical Society of America contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report with support from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Patricia K. Pincus
Public Relations
(202) 530-4539
patricia.pincus@bm.com

Optical Society of America
Washington, DC
http://www.osa.org
info@osa.org