WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Whether it is the need to look back 200 years to a period when the nation doubled in size, and feel hopeful and proud of the country, or whether it is the need to guard against counterfeiting in an increasingly digital society, the redesigning of U.S. currency is taking place at a remarkable rate.
Issues of counterfeit deterrence, public revenue, history and patriotism surround the Treasury Department's various currency initiatives.
The issuance of the latest $20 note this year was intended to prevent counterfeiters from digitally reproducing the notes, and to maintain public confidence in U.S. currency. A new $50 note will be issued in 2004 and a redesigned $100 note will be issued in 2005.
"Digital counterfeiting is cheaper and easier. What's really driven the technology is digital cameras," said Tom Ferguson, director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. "Once you get to that quality of reproduction systems, it provides a somewhat irresistible opportunity for some."
"The U.S. is committed to staying ahead of improving technology by making changes to our currency every seven to 10 years," said John Gill, a Secret Service special agent in charge.
Last year, the United States lost $41 million due to counterfeiting. While the total amount of counterfeiting is decreasing, the amount of digital counterfeiting is on the rise. Less than 5 percent of the counterfeit notes in 1995 were digitally produced. That contrasts with the nearly 40-percent rate of digitally produced counterfeit notes that were detected in 2002.
The revamped $20 note has special security features that make it more difficult to counterfeit and easier for the public to recognize authentic notes, such as color-shifting ink, a security thread and a watermark, as well as other features not made known to the general public for security reasons.
So far, the added features have aided the Secret Service in detecting counterfeit notes. Gill said, "While we have seen some counterfeit notes of the new 2004 Series appearing across the country, these have been of generally poor quality and none of the security features have been successfully reproduced."
It cost the Treasury Department less than $250,000 to redesign the $20 note. Each newly designed note costs about 1 cent more to produce than the older notes because of the added security features.
The Treasury Department and the European Central Bank have close ties and some similar features can be found in both the euro and the $20 note. The U.S. dollar remains the most widely used currency in the world.
While the new $20 note has generated public interest, there has been a "renaissance in coin collecting and coin design in the United States," according to U.S. Mint Director Henrietta Holsman Fore. She said she meets with coin collectors often and keeps their ideas in mind when promoting the educational program connected to the new currency.
The renewed patriotism of Americans since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has increased the size of the coin-collecting community. Americans have become more patriotic, and "there has been a greater awareness of the importance of our nation," Fore said. This has directly increased the public interest in the United States' new currency.
Women have increasingly expressed interest in the traditionally male-dominated hobby of coin collecting, largely due to the downloadable elementary school lesson plans on the U.S. Mint Web site that feature historical lessons about the coins. She said there had been 1.5 million downloads of the lesson plans.
The 50 State Quarters Program initiated in 1999 is at its halfway mark, and there are 130 million Americans collecting the state quarters.
The program, said Gary Jacobs of Federal Coin Exchange Incorporated in Cleveland, "has brought a lot of people that were formerly collectors back into collecting."
The program has also attracted new collectors.
Young collectors growing up in a fast-paced, high-tech world are ready for faster changes in the designs of the currency, Fore said. And in addition to grandparents buying proof sets of the coins for their grandchildren, parents buy the quarters that are minted the same year that their children are born.
The demand for the quarters, said Juan Lama, owner of Dalton Stamp & Coin Incorporated, in Dalton, Ga., is greater than the supply.
"I remember myself thinking in 1999 when they created the new quarters, people asked me if they would be worth anything," Lama said. "I told them they wouldn't be, but I was wrong."
The U.S. Mint made about $1 billion in profit last year for the Treasury Department, largely from the 50-state quarter program. From 1996 to 2003, the program had a profit of $3 billion to $4 billion. The cost of minting a quarter is less than a quarter, and the profit generated from this is known as seniorage.
"Coin designs encourage profitability that then goes into the general treasury that benefits Americans," Fore said.
As the quarters are only issued for a 10-week period, their rarity increases their value.
Next year, the U.S. Mint will unveil two new nickel designs that commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase and the Louis and Clark "Voyage of Discovery." The mint plans to coin between 1 billion and 2 billion nickels, which is expected to make a profit of between $20 million and $40 million.
Richard Becker, owner of Action Coin Trader in Mesa, Ariz., expects this initiative to "boost up interest in the nickel," no small task given that the nickel is "the worst coin to sell as a collectible."
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the United States Postal Service will join the U.S. Mint in creating and issuing collectible items such as engravings, drawings, and stamps as part of the "Westward Journey" nickel series.
(Photos available: WAP2003121231, WAP2003121232, WAP2003121233, WAP2003121234, WAP2003121235)
