Redesigned U.S. $100 bill to debut Tuesday

WASHINGTON -- The new $100 bill, with an array of high-tech features designed to thwart counterfeiters, arrives Tuesday, partial government shutdown or not.

The Federal Reserve, which has not been affected by the shutdown, will have armored trucks rolling from its regional banks around the country headed to banks, savings and loans and other financial institutions with the new C-notes.

The bills took more than a decade to develop and the introduction was plagued by production problems that set back the rollout by 2½ years. Some bank customers could start seeing the new bills by this afternoon, depending on how close their bank is to a regional Fed facility.

The $100-bill redesign, the first since March 1996, still has Ben Franklin on the front and Philadelphia's Independence Hall on the back. It will also have a number of new features that will definitely turn heads.

There is a disappearing Liberty Bell in an inkwell and a bright blue 3-D security ribbon with images that move in the opposite direction from the way the bill is being tilted.

"The 3-D security ribbon is magic. It is made up of hundreds of thousands of micro-lenses in each note," said Larry Felix, director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

The $100 bill is the last bill to get a makeover in a process that began in 2003 with the $20 bill. Officials said the $900-billion worth of $100 bills currently in circulation will be gradually phased out as worn-out bills are returned to Fed facilities. The $100 bill, the largest U.S. denomination in circulation, has the longest life at 15 years. The $1 bill lasts 5.9 years. -- AP