Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes: The evolving face of our country’s cash

Thursday, Aug. 24, 2000 | 8:34 a.m.

The U.S. Treasury Department has finished giving a face lift to several former presidents.

By most accounts the operations on Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant and Benjamin Franklin on the country's currency were a success.

Many who routinely deal with money say public opinion has generally been favorable toward the nation's new currency -- including the $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 bills and the $1 gold coin (which is named for its color, not its content).

In May the Treasury and the Federal Reserve began releasing the new $5 and $10 bills. Redesigned $100 bills were circulated in 1996, new $50s were released in 1997 and new $20s began surfacing in 1998.

In January the gold dollar, which bears the image of Shoshone Indian Sacagawea, began making its way into Americans' pockets -- and into coin collections.

"People are hoarding them, including myself," said Sharon Simmons, vice president at First Security Bank of Nevada.

The gold dollar, featuring the teenager who, from 1804-1806, assisted the Lewis and Clark expedition cross the Northern Great Plains to the Pacific Ocean and back, replaces the unpopular Susan B. Anthony dollar -- which people did not like because it looked too much like a quarter, according to officials.

Simmons said there have been a minimum of complaints about the new currency and dollar coin, but "you always get complaints (when there is a change)."

The bills are gradually being introduced into circulation as the older paper money becomes worn and is replaced. The dollar coins are being released in increments. By the end of the year, 1 billion coins will have been issued, according to the Treasury.

Counterfeiting

America's money was redesigned to combat counterfeiters, many of whom already have found ways around the security measures in the new bills.

"Within three to five years the Bureau of Engraving is looking at redesigning the bills again," says Steve Bobbitt, spokesman for the American Numismatic Association in Colorado Springs, Colo., which was chartered by the federal government to promote the study of money.

About $500 billion in currency is circulating in the world, almost 60 percent of it in foreign countries, said to Bobbitt. "Most of the counterfeiting has come from overseas, pretty much all over: Asia, Russia, the Middle East, the Far East," he said.

Fake American bills are more easily circulated in foreign countries, where people are not as familiar with the money and they don't have sophisticated detecting devices.

"(Counterfeiting) jeopardizes the value of our currency, which affects the world currency," Bobbitt said.

He said government officials are trying to figure out what they can do to the next generation of bills to deter counterfeiters. "We may not see the difference, the notes may look the same, but there may be a device in the note."

Bobbitt said the new bills currently have a number of security devices embedded in them that the public is not aware of, and still some counterfeiters successfully reproduce them.

Changes in the paper money include such things as security threads and, on some bills, color-shifting ink that appears green when viewed straight on but black when viewed at an angle. Some denominations glow orange in ultraviolet light.

The most visible change is the larger portrait of each president, which is moved off-center, to the left, to make more space for the watermark on the right. The watermark is visible when the bill is held up to the light.

"There are so many counterfeiters out there, hopefully these new bills will do what (officials) say they will do," Simmons said.

The bank's automatic counting equipment, which can detect counterfeits, took to the new bills immediately.

"It just required a new (computer) disc," she said. The disc is sensitive to fake money.

It took the employees a little longer to adapt.

"(The bills) took a little getting used to because they look so much alike," Simmons said.

Susie Lewis, cage manager at Harrah's hotel-casino, said she still sees a lot of the old currency, "It's about 50-50."

The similarity in the bills is distracting but not a major problem -- counters simply place the currency face down so they don't have to look at the portrait.

"Money is money, we'll take it -- old or new," she said.

Steve Ellis, Harrah's casino manager, said the new currency has not had much of an impact on the casino. He has only seen one gold dollar and the slot machines are accepting the new paper money without a problem.

"Our major issue was getting the technology up to speed," he said. "(The slots) had to have a new (computer) chip. Cost-wise, it was relatively inexpensive (to make the change), but it was very time consuming, labor-wise."

JCM American Corp. of Las Vegas, which makes the equipment that validates the bills that go into slot machines, created new software to accommodate the new money.

Nikki Phillips, a spokeswoman for JCM, said the changeover did not pose a problem. "We do it all the time for all different countries."

Russ Cashka, with Sky Top Vending in Las Vegas, said altering his vending machines is just as simple, although not all of them have been totally updated to accept the latest bills to be circulated.

"We've been converting all along," he said. "About 80 percent of our vending machines accept the new $5 and $10 bills. There is no problem with the gold coins. It was just a matter of tuning the electronic changers."

Change is good

Although redesigning America's money may be a chore for the federal government, at least one Las Vegan would like to see it happen more often.

"Any change (in money design) is good," said Rusty Goe, owner of the Las Vegas Rare Coin Gallery on South Maryland Parkway. "We've had the old money for a long time."

The first paper money in this country was printed in 1861 to finance the Civil War. Goe said the government frequently changed the design of its currency between that year and the early 1930s.

"Between 1861 and 1922 (America had the) most beautiful money," he said. "They took pride in the printing of our money back then. It was colorful, it had themes on it.

"Then (in the 1930s) the government just kind of got set in one particular kind of paper money and it lasted almost 70 years."

Goe said the gold coin is proving very popular. Many people mistakenly think the coin is actually made of gold, he said. In fact, it is 88.5 percent copper, 6 percent zinc, 3.5 percent manganese and 2 percent nickel. Its color will eventually become darker, much as pennies darken with age.

The new gold coin is the same diameter as the Susan B. Anthony coin but has a smooth edge, in contrast to the reeded edge of the Anthony dollar.

Bobbitt pointed out that the $1 note was not changed, which could indicate it eventually will be taken out of circulation in favor of the coin. He said it costs about eight cents to make the coin and four cents to make the bill.

"(The Bureau of Engraving) spends 44 percent of its time printing $1 bills," Bobbitt said. "The bill lasts an average of 18 months. The coin will last 30 years. Economically, it makes sense (to get rid of the $1 bill)."

While gold coins are routinely being saved by people who think they will become valuable in the future, some are hoarding new paper currency with the same idea in mind.

"Paper money doesn't generally have much collector's value, but for an error on the bills -- if the serial number is upside down or something that's supposed to be printed is not there," Goe cautioned. "Just regular paper money issued over the last 65 to 70 years doesn't have any collector value at all."

Also being stashed away are the commemorative quarters the Treasury began circulating in 1999, and will continue circulating through 2008.

Ultimately each state will have one quarter in circulation that was designed by the state. The quarters are being issued at the rate of five per year, starting with the first state to enter the union and ending with the last.

According to one published report hoarders of the quarters are being pointed at as a major cause of a coin shortage on the East Coast. The U.S. Mint estimates 100 million to 160 million people will collect the special-edition quarters.

Perhaps money is as enriching to the English language as it is to pocketbooks.

What would America's language be like if not for money -- moolah, jack, simoleons, wampum?

Filthy lucre -- that green stuff, lettuce, long green -- has added immensely to the color of everyday speech.

If not for hard cash, you couldn't look like a million bucks. You couldn't give someone a penny for their thoughts, or put in your two cents. Nor could you spot someone who is as phony as a $3 bill.

Why, without scratch, English wouldn't be worth a plugged nickle.

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