A peek at the new $20 bill

September 9, 2003 1:16 PM

Some Action for Jackson A peek at the new $20 bill that will be dropped into circulation Oct. 9.
posted by FearTormento (17 comments total)

Among the features are a watermark image engrained into the paper itself; a vertical plastic strip embedded into the note; and color-shifting ink, whose appearance changes in hue from copper to green as the bill is tilted against light.

Wow, those sound almost as hard to duplicate as umm... current $20 bills. Except now they'll be pink, because pink is impossible to duplicate!
posted by mosch at 1:24 PM on September 9, 2003

These guys do it better.
posted by PrinceValium at 1:32 PM on September 9, 2003

I know, I know, you searched on the word "Jackson," not "$20"...
posted by soyjoy at 1:38 PM on September 9, 2003

It's so...festive.
posted by me3dia at 1:39 PM on September 9, 2003

Soyjoy, Even if it was posted in MeFi back in May, to me it's cool this comes up again. I mean a few weeks apart is one thing but three or more months apart? That's not really as annoying. We're closer to Columbus day and people will now have more to say about the issue...

Okay, so I personally don't have more to say about it.. but I'm sure someone does. ...I bet there will be store employees who turn the new bills away the first day cuz they look like badly made counterfeits. I mean those storekeepers who don't read CNN of course.
posted by ZachsMind at 1:44 PM on September 9, 2003

I notice the shrubbery on back seems to be different. I suppose the Falling Towers meme will be eradicated from the bills. I wonder if there is any Treasury documentation on the phenomena.
posted by roboto at 1:48 PM on September 9, 2003

There's also an article over at the Money Factory.
posted by silusGROK at 2:01 PM on September 9, 2003

Zachs, that's great that it's cool to you. But it's still a double post - yeah, even three whole months apart. And I thought people'd want to see what we all said back when it was unveiled.
posted by soyjoy at 2:12 PM on September 9, 2003

Hang on. The bills are being made in diff. colours so that they can easily be told apart? You Americans sure have some whacky ideas...
posted by i_cola at 2:31 PM on September 9, 2003

...finally catching up with the rest of the world. Next up, different sizes.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 4:40 PM on September 9, 2003

Hmm. My US bills are black and green. Now I guess we have to argue over if black is a color.
posted by tayknight at 6:06 PM on September 9, 2003

And in other news: Blind people are still getting screwed by the U.S. government. (They can insert strips into the paper but they can't punch some holes in 'em so the blind can tell bills apart? Sheesh.)
posted by jengod at 7:07 PM on September 9, 2003

Jengod, I think that's a great idea (I'm a big fan of useability), but can you name other nations that do it?

I'd be especially interested if you could find so online pictures.
posted by silusGROK at 12:02 AM on September 10, 2003

i was positive that the Euro notes had braille features, but apparently not - an explanation of how blind people should distinguish between euro notes and coins is here. Bit of a cop out in my opinion.
posted by kev23f at 3:12 AM on September 10, 2003

Jackson was a bad man. Obviously it is hard to find a good President to put on money, cause everybody hates one President or another. I wish they would go for pictures of animals and more famous indians. Maybe native trees even.

This is just more ugly money with terrible typography.
posted by thirteen at 6:26 AM on September 10, 2003

PrinceValium, you forgot to point out our new Canadian currency designs.
posted by Robot Johnny at 8:40 AM on September 10, 2003

Obviously it is hard to find a good President to put on money, cause everybody hates one President or another

If you can't find a good President for the $20, why not put The King on it? Seriously. Or kick Hamilton off the $10.

I wish they would go for pictures of animals and more famous indians

This would probably have to wait for things to recede into the really dim past to get the right permission from the right people, but I'd love to see a big stonkin' warship with Crazy Horse or Osceola on the back, and flying the flags of the US and the relevant Indian nation.

But then I also wish that the American military had always had a tradition of its officers carrying ceremonial tomahawks instead of swords.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:43 AM on September 10, 2003