Here it is, March 13, initial release day for the
redesigned $5 Federal Reserve Note.
Let me know as soon as you get one!
It's conceivable that some people could receive one today. Most banks have regularly scheduled cash deliveries, though, and the new notes will enter real circulation at different times over coming days and weeks.
A "first spend" event, referred to as a "commemorative transaction" in the latest press release, took place this morning at
President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldier's Home in Washington, D.C.
--In the photo: Michael Lambert, (second left), Assistant Director of the Division of
Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems for the Federal Reserve
Board, uses a redesigned $5 bill to purchase a book of President
Abraham Lincoln's speeches from Chris Hart, a volunteer at the gift
shop of President Lincoln's Cottage in Washington, D.C., Thursday, March
13. Joining Lambert are (from left) Treasurer of the United States Anna Escobedo Cabral; Michael Merritt, Deputy Assistant
Director for the Office of Investigations of the U.S. Secret Service;
and Pamela Gardiner, Deputy Director for the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing. (Photo by Robin Weiner.)--
For a denomination that initially wasn't scheduled for redesign, the $5's new features go a little beyond earlier redesigns. First, a large numeral 5 watermark replaces the Lincoln watermark to the right of the portrait. Second, a column of three smaller 5s has been added in watermark form to the left of the portrait.
New color added to the note is purple, highlighted by a large, easy-to-read purple 5 on the back. Small yellow 05s have been added on the front and back as well.
The security strip was also moved to a new position, to the right of the portrait.
Visually, the addition of part of the Great Seal of the United States with its eagle, shield and arc of stars makes this $5 stand out from the previous one.
One thing the new $5 does not have that its classmates in redesign do feature is a design element applied in metallic ink. We don't miss it, though.
Eyes turn now to the $100 bill, up next for redesign. Expected on the redesigned $100 is use of an optically variable device that we haven't seen before on U.S. paper money.