New $50 Bill to Fight Counterfeits

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This fall the Treasury will continue its efforts to curb counterfeiting by releasing a redesigned $50 bill. The Treasury expects the new bill to be as successful in discouraging counterfeits as the recently redesigned $100 bill.

To date, no one has successfully duplicated the new security features of the redesigned $100 note; therefore, the U.S. Secret Service has found fewer new $100 bill counterfeits. In addition to reducing fraud, fewer counterfeit bills translate into cost savings for you and the Treasury.

Emulating the successful results achieved with the redesigned $100 bill, the $50 bill will include many of the same security features that make counterfeits easier to detect. Guard against counterfeit notes at your financial institution by looking for these traits:

• Color-shifting ink on the lower right corner looks green when viewed straight on, but appears black when viewed at an angle.
• A watermark is locatedin the space to the right of the portrait and is visible from both sides when held up to a light.
• To the right of the portrait, a plastic security thread with the words "USA 50" and a depiction of the American flag glow yellow under ultraviolet light (the security thread in the $100 note glows red and is on the left of the portrait).
  
• Concentric fine lines should be clear, not splotchy or wavy, on both sides of the bill.

In addition to these features, the new $50 note contains several distinct security enhancements, such as:

1. an enlarged "50" on the back right corner of the note for those with poor vision and
2. the word "fifty" is microprinted along the right and left borders, and "United States of America" is on Grant's collar.

Like the $100 note, the new $50 bill will gradually replace the older series notes as they are turned in to the Federal Reserve for processing. All older currency will retain its face value. If you have any questions about the new currency features, contact Joe Elstner in St. Louis at (314) 444-8902.