US RELEASES NEW $100 BILL

From the BBC

The US Federal Reserve has issued a new hi-tech $100 banknote comprising several new security features.

It includes a blue 3D security ribbon and a bell and inkwell logo that authorities say are particularly difficult to replicate.

These combine with traditional security features, such as a portrait watermark and an embedded security thread that glows pink under ultraviolet light.

The 2010 design was delayed because of "unexpected production challenges".

The 3D security ribbon - which is woven into the note, not printed on it - features images of 100s that change into bells and move upwards or sideways depending on how you tilt the paper.

Referring to the embedded security thread Chadwick Wasilenkoff, chief executive of security paper company Fortress Paper, told the BBC: "It's not a small incremental step up for security, it's a giant leap."

Tilting also reveals a green bell within a copper-coloured inkwell to the right of the blue ribbon.

In addition, the 100 number in the bottom right-hand corner shifts from copper to green.

The redesigned banknote, which features a portrait of US founding father and scientist Benjamin Franklin, also includes raised "intaglio" printing that gives the notes a distinctive feel, and microprinted words that are difficult to read without magnification.

Forgeries

Over a decade of research and development has gone into the new note, the Fed said, in a joint project with the US Secret Service and the Department of the Treasury.

Advances in design software and high-resolution copying and printing have made it easier for counterfeiters to print fake money and harder for retailers to spot the forgeries.

US authorities say that $100 bill is the most counterfeited of all US banknotes, but accurate figures for the total value of counterfeit cash in circulation are hard to come by.

The US Secret Service estimates that counterfeit bills account for less than 0.01% of the $1.1 trillion (£683bn) of US money in circulation.

It says about $80.7m of counterfeit currency changed hands domestically in 2012, and about $14.5m abroad.

The authorities seized $9.7m in counterfeit cash before it could make it in to the US money supply, and seized $56.8m abroad in 2012.

Bruce Schneier, security expert at BT, told the BBC: "Bills have to be easy to produce cheaply and in large quantities by the government, yet hard to reproduce in small quantities by counterfeiters.

"Making something that costs less than a dollar to produce and over $100 to reproduce is a very difficult problem."

USA ( UNITED STATES OF AMERICA)

The United States of America is a federal republic consisting of 50 states and one federal district (Washington D.C.), the federal district being the capital city. 48 of the states lie in the main body of the country with Alaska, to the west of Canada , and Hawaii in the pacific ocean. The indigenous peoples of America, now referred to as "Native Americans", were thought to have descended from peoples from Asia who came to the area around 10,000 BCE. European settlers came after Colombus in 1492. independence was achieved in 1776, when 13 British colonies declared independence and constituted themselves as The United States of America. The United States annexed the Republic of Texas in 1845 and the secession of California and the south west after the Mexican-american  war of 1848. In 1860, 7 pro slavery states left to constitute the Confederate states of America. Another 4 states joined the confederates when the American civil war started in 1861. At the start of World War I, The USA was neutral until joining the Allies in 1917. Again in WWII, USA started neutral and joined the allies after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941. After WWII, Russia and The USA led two world organisations, NATO and the Warsaw Pact,  in the Cold War.

Monetary Unit:

1 Dollar = 100 Cents

The 3 notes above are ; the 10 Dollar note from the 1990 series with Alexander Hamilton, 1st US secretary of the treasury. the reverse has the Treasury Building. The 1988, 5 Dollar note, with Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the USA on the front and the Lincoln memorial on the reverse.
The 1 Dollar note from 2003 has George Washington, 1st president of the USA, on the front and has the Great Seal on the reverse.

This fragile note above is from 1863 and is a 50 cent note issued by the Confederate States of America. It is uni face and has a side view of President Jefferson Davis on the front , the back of course, is blank.