Five Alive

By Margaret Lyons in News on Mar 13, 2008 4:29PM

New $5 bills make their debut today, and all we can say is....look at that big purple five. That thing is a monster! But it's a "low vision" feature, designed to "[help] those with visual impairments to distinguish the denomination." The bill also includes light purple shading on the front, clusters of tiny yellow 5s on the front and back, and an "enhanced" portrait.

The new bill has two watermarks—three 5s stacked vertically to the left of Lincoln's head, and a big swirly 5 watermark all the way to the right of the bill—and a security thread to the right of Honest Abe's noble visage. That thread glows under UV light, as Abraham himself would have wanted. [Treasury]