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Feds Give Abe's 5-Spot a Facelift

New currency includes pastels and redesigned watermarks to thwart couterfeiters

By Caroline Zimmerman,  Newser User

Posted Sep 20, 2007 4:20 PM CDT
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(Newser) – When you pull out a $5 bill next spring, you'll still see Honest Abe—but you'll also see a bunch of purple and gray, some big number fives, and new watermarks and security threads. Sick of pesky counterfeiters bleaching the fiver and turning it into a C-note, the feds unveiled the redesigned bill today, the AP reports.

The scam is relatively common because the two notes share certain security marks. Almost 4,000 counterfeiting arrests were made last year, representing some $62 million. "We wanted this redesigned bill to scream, 'I am a five," said one Treasury director. The spring launch of 1.5 billion bills provides plenty of time to adjust millions of US vending machine to accept the bill.

In this image provided by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the back of the new five dollar bill is seen. Honest Abe is becoming colorful Abe with splashes of purple and gray. The government unveiled the newly designed bill Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007, in Washington. (AP Photo/Bureau of Engraving...
In this image provided by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the back of the new five dollar bill is seen. Honest Abe is becoming colorful Abe with splashes of purple and gray. The government unveiled...   (Associated Press)
In this image provided by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the front of the new five dollar bill is seen. Honest Abe is becoming colorful Abe with splashes of purple and gray. The government unveiled the newly designed bill Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007, in Washington. (AP Photo/Bureau of Engraving...
In this image provided by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the front of the new five dollar bill is seen. Honest Abe is becoming colorful Abe with splashes of purple and gray. The government unveiled...   (Associated Press)
A plaster mold of Abraham's Lincoln's face, probably made from a bronze copy of a life mask made shortly before the president's death in 1865, is seen Monday, Aug. 13, 2007, at the Chicago History Museum. The plaster cast is one of two life masks used in a new study...
A plaster mold of Abraham's Lincoln's face, probably made from a bronze copy of a life mask made shortly before the president's death in 1865, is seen Monday, Aug. 13, 2007, at the Chicago History Museum....   (Associated Press)
President Abraham Lincoln is shown in this Nov. 8, 1863 file photo made available by the New York Public Library. Lincoln has been dead for 142 years, but he still manages to make medical headlines, this time from doctors who say he had a bad case of smallpox when he...
President Abraham Lincoln is shown in this Nov. 8, 1863 file photo made available by the New York Public Library. Lincoln has been dead for 142 years, but he still manages to make medical headlines,...   (Associated Press)
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currency • counterfeit • Abraham Lincoln • US dollar • watermark • US Mint

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