FACELIFT FOR BEN AIMED AT DETERRING BILL COUNTERFEITERS

After more than 60 years, Benjamin Franklin is getting a face lift. The $100 bill, which bears a portrait of Franklin, will get a new look beginning after the new year.

The U.S. Treasury Department will begin issuing the newly-designed $100 bill in January. Bank officials expect it will begin circulating in Southeast Missouri sometime around March. Federal Reserve banks will distribute the bills for the treasury department, depending on the number requested locally.

Other design changes for the $1, $5, $10 and $20 bills will be introduced later.

Charles Henderson, a spokesman for the Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis, said the changes will make it more difficult to counterfeit the bill. Although the changes were made for practical reasons, the new bill will have a more aesthetic look.

Each year, about nine bills in a million are listed as counterfeit, said a spokesperson for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, a branch of the U.S. Treasury Department. In 1990, about 66 million of the 70 billion notes produced were considered counterfeit.

"All the elements introduced will help to stay ahead of counterfeiters," Henderson said. "As printing technology has advanced over the years, it made it much easier to reproduce."

Since the $100 bill is the most commonly counterfeited bill in the United States, a task force of government officials studied what could be done to reduce the number of counterfeit bills being printed. The conclusion was to alter the design of the current bill.

Some of the changes to the bill include:

-- A larger portrait of Benjamin Franklin, moved slightly off-center.

-- A watermark to the right of the portrait.

-- A security thread that will be positioned at different parts of each new denomination. The thread will glow red when it is exposed to ultraviolet light in a darkroom.

-- A change in ink color. The numeral in the lower right corner will shift from green to black when held at different angles under a light.

"We will start to introduce it as the older $100 bills come back to the Reserve Bank," Henderson said. "The look of the bill will be different and people will notice that."

Although new bills will be circulating, the older ones are still legal. As local banks send the old bills back to the Federal Reserve branches for shredding, new bills will be sent as replacements, Henderson said. The average life expectancy of a $100 bill is nine years.

"It will always be honored by the government as legal tender," he said. "Most people were concerned that their $100 notes will still be good."

There are no definite figures on the amount of $100 bills still in circulation. But an estimated 240 billion bills -- of all denominations -- are thought to be in circulation worldwide.

Although the $100 bill is the largest bill now printed, some $10,000 bills are still in circulation.

In 1969, the government stopped printing bills larger than $100. And the design of the American dollar hasn't changed much since 1928, despite the introduction of the Susan B. Anthony dollar.

The convenience of a dollar coin didn't really catch on. But the U.S. Postal Service in Cape Girardeau uses thousands of the coins.

Postage machines return the Susan B. Anthony dollar as change when customers buy stamps.

Barbara Seabaugh, vending technician for the post office, said there are about as many complaints about the coin as there are people who trade them for regular bills.

Since few people in Cape Girardeau use the Susan B. Anthony dollar regularly, the post office has to order the coins from area banks. It takes about a week to fill the request.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing, a branch of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, oversees the printing of all U.S. bills, securities and postage stamps. The U.S. Mint, another division of the treasury department, manufactures coins in Denver, Philadelphia, San Francisco and West Point, N.Y.

Federal Reserve branch banks distribute the currency to local banks across the nation.