U.S. currency going for gold and other colors By RICHARD POWELSON Scripps Howard News Service May 17, 2002

WASHINGTON - Americans have been spending greenbacks all their lives, but the Treasury Department is betting they will be just as happy with gold $100 bills or blue $20s or other colors already on foreign currency.

The primary goal, however, is not to brighten up U.S. currency - long black and white on the front and green and white on the back. They want to make it harder for counterfeiters to stay in business.

"The Secret Service says adding the new background color would help thwart counterfeiting - make it a little more difficult to replicate," said James Hagedorn of the federal Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

He would not offer hints about the new hues except to say they will be "subtle."

If Olympic-medal colors are any guide for U.S. money managers, perhaps the new $100 bill, the highest denomination the government currently makes, will have a gold background. Or will new currency feature a fanciful "Amber Andy" Jackson on the $20 bill? Or a "Green Grant" background for the former president on the $50 bill? We have copper Lincoln pennies, so how about a copper $5 Lincoln bill?

No one wants blood money in their hands, but what about purple money? That's the color of the largest of the "euro" notes. The new currency is used by a dozen European countries. Each of the seven denominations has a different background color.

Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill has not given final approval to the background color choices, but federal planners have been moving ahead with the expectation that he will. The department likely will announce soon whether the first bill to get extra color will be the $100 or the $20, and the first newly colored money could be in circulation as early as mid-2003.

Perhaps the only money not getting makeovers will be the $1 and $2 bills, which are not targets for counterfeiters. About $60 million worth of counterfeit money is seized annually, according to Secret Service agent James Mackin.

There already are 15 features on currency designed since 1996 to make counterfeiting more challenging. One such feature is the watermark portrait of a former U.S. leader on the right side of bills that is visible when held up to the light.

Despite no public announcements on the final colors, the vending-machine industry is predicting that a lot of red ink will be involved. At least on their end. Reformatting the machines to recognize the new designs will cost the industry millions of dollars, said Tom McMahon of the National Automatic Merchandising Association.

But money lovers - and who isn't one? - likely will embrace the changes, predicted Stephen Bobbitt of the American Numismatic Association.

"It's not a cause for concern among our members," he said. "It's more a cause for excitement. It's a chance for something new. We think it would be another way for people to stop and look at their money and pay attention to it a little bit."

On the Web:

http://www.bep.treas.gov (U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing)

http://www.vending.org (vending machine industry)

http://www.secretservice.gov (tips to detect counterfeit money) (Richard Powelson may be contacted at PowelsonR(at)shns.com or http://www.shns.com.) Source: http://www.knoxstudio.com/