New $100 bill a counterfeiters' nightmare

Sure, this doesn’t exactly fit in with what we normally cover at BGR, but when we saw what the Treasury Department did with the design of the newly unveiled $100 bill we just couldn’t help but whip up this post. To enter into circulation in February 2011, the new $100 bill features a range of new security features that will help the average person discern what’s real from what’s fake. The two features Uncle Sam is most proud about are the 3D Security Ribbon and the Bell in the Inkwell. The 3D Security Ribbon is on the front of the bill, and is laced with images of bells and 100s which shift into one another when the note is tilted. The Bell in the Inkwell, found immediately to the right of the 3D Security Ribbon, changes from copper to green when the bill is moved giving the illusion of the bell disappearing into the inkwell. Other features and items that have been enhanced from the previous design includes a portrait watermark of Benjamin Franklin, a security thread, color-shifting 100, a gold 100, raised printing, and microprinting. If you happen to have a few stacks stacks of $100s lying around, don’t worry about them losing their status as legal tender because the Treasury Department isn’t planning on recalling the any of the existing 6.5 billion bills. If you’re pretty confused about all of this, just click the read link. The ol’ reliable forces of bureaucracy have assembled what looks to be a rather comprehensive (and no doubt expensive) website that’s chock-full of informative goodness.

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