How Has Paper Money Changed Since 1990?
Ever since 1690, when the first paper money was issued by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, paper money has been constantly changing. Throughout the history of the United States paper money, the United States has gone through different types of currency. The different types of currency ranged from State Bank Notes to Gold Certificates to National Bank Notes to Silver Certificates to Federal Reserve Bank Notes, and now ending with Federal Reserve Notes. However, in the mean time counterfeit money had been gaining circulation and “thirty-six percent of the dollar value of known counterfeit currency passed in the U.S. was produced overseas, particularly in Colombia, Italy, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Bangkok” (Fun Facts About Money). In result, over a hundred domestic and eighteen foreign counterfeit operations were terminated in 1990.
With much trouble flowing around with counterfeit money, the United States tried enhancing the physical features of the American paper currency, making it harder to duplicate. In 1990, security threads and microprinting were introduced and put into production for the Series 1990 $100, $50 Federal Reserve notes, and by the end of the 1993 series all of denominations were changed except $1 and $2 notes. A security threads is a “clear, inscribed polyester thread” (Anatomy of a Bill: The Currency Paper) that run on the width of the paper currency printed with its own denomination; for example, a $50 note would say “USA 50” repeatedly throughout the thread. Depending on the denomination, the locations in which the security threads run vary on the paper currency. In order to see the security thread, the paper currency should be transmitted through light and when exposed to ultraviolet light, glows red. What cannot be recreated easily by advanced copiers and printers, microprinting can only be seen through magnification. In 1990, the words “The United States of America” were micropinted around the edges of the portraits on the notes.
With much trouble flowing around with counterfeit money, the United States tried enhancing the physical features of the American paper currency, making it harder to duplicate. In 1990, security threads and microprinting were introduced and put into production for the Series 1990 $100, $50 Federal Reserve notes, and by the end of the 1993 series all of denominations were changed except $1 and $2 notes. A security threads is a “clear, inscribed polyester thread” (Anatomy of a Bill: The Currency Paper) that run on the width of the paper currency printed with its own denomination; for example, a $50 note would say “USA 50” repeatedly throughout the thread. Depending on the denomination, the locations in which the security threads run vary on the paper currency. In order to see the security thread, the paper currency should be transmitted through light and when exposed to ultraviolet light, glows red. What cannot be recreated easily by advanced copiers and printers, microprinting can only be seen through magnification. In 1990, the words “The United States of America” were micropinted around the edges of the portraits on the notes.
Cited: Fun Facts About Money. Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, 1996. Web. 24 Nov. 2009. . History of Currency Designs. USPaperMoney.Info, Oct. 2000. Web. 23 Nov. 2009. KNOW YOUR MONEY and Federal Reserve Seal. USA.gov, 2008. Web. 02 Nov. 2009. . Ross, Kelley L. Six Kinds of United States Paper Currency. Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D., 1979. Web. 24 Nov The Redesigned Currency. The Department of the Treasury Bureau of Engraving and Printing. 2009