The New $10 Note: Do You Know Your Money?

The U.S Department of Treasury and the Federal Reserve have unveiled the design for the new $10 note, which is scheduled to enter circulation on March 2, 2006. The enhanced design for the note retains three of the most important security features that were first introduced in the 1990s and are easy to check: color-shifting ink, watermark and security thread.

Did you know that the images that appear on the new $10 have a long history of being a part of currency design? Read on to learn more about the new note headed to your wallet later this year.

• Alexander Hamilton, whose portrait appears on the $10 note, served as the first Secretary of the Treasury (1789-1795) under President George Washington, and first appeared on the $5 Demand Notes issued in 1861.
• A vignette of the U.S. Treasury building graces the back of the $10 note. Prior to 1928, the Treasury building had not been used on any notes other than $1000 interest-bearing notes in 1861.
• The newest symbol of freedom to be incorporated into the new series of redesigned notes is the Statue of Liberty's torch, which is found on the face of the new $10 note. The Statue of Liberty previously appeared on the back of the $20 Federal Reserve Notes, Series of 1914.

Did you also know that U.S. bank notes are made of a highly durable paper composed of 75 percent linen and 25 percent cotton. The notes are so durable you would have to double-fold a U.S. currency note about 4,000 times before it would tear.

For more information about the $10 note, please visit www.moneyfactory.gov/newmoney.

In order to stay ahead of counterfeiters, the U.S. government will introduce new currency designs every seven to ten years.