WASHINGTON – The U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing has unveiled the new $5 bill, with a safer, smarter and more secure design. As part of its ongoing commitment to protect U.S. currency from counterfeiters, the new $5 will enter circulation early 2008. As with the earlier redesign of the $10, $20 and $50 bills, the new $5 bill has some new and old features.
Security features make it easier to check the new $5 bills. By holding the $5 bill up to the light, check for watermarks and a security thread. The two watermarks on the redesigned $5 bill are a large number “5” watermark is located in a blank window to the right of the portrait replacing the previous watermark portrait of President Lincoln found on the older design $5 bills, and a column of three smaller “5”s positioned to the left of the portrait.
The embedded security thread runs vertically to the right of the portrait on the redesigned $5 bill. The letters “USA” followed by the number “5” in an alternating pattern are visible along the thread from both sides of the bill. The thread glows blue when held under ultraviolet light.
The most obvious changes in the new $5 bill are a background color of light purple in the center of the bill blending into gray near the edges, with small yellow “05’s,” printed on the front and back of the bill. Color also defines one denomination from another. For example, the subtle purple and gray of the $5 bill will make it easy to differentiate it from $20 bills (green, peach and blue), $50 bills (red and blue) and $10 bills (yellow, orange and red).
In addition, the large, easy-to-read number “5” located on the lower-right corner on the back of the bill has been enlarged in the new $5 bill design and printed in high-contrast purple ink to help those with visual impairments to distinguish the denomination.
Like the $10, $20 and $50 bills before it, the new $5 bill also features an American symbol of freedom: the Great Seal of the United States (an eagle and shield) on the front of the bill.
The government is providing materials to retailers to educate their cash-handlers about the new $5 bill’s security features. For more information, visit the Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s Web site at www.moneyfactory.gov/newmoney or call (877) 639-2877.