$10 Bills Get A Makeover

Americans' wallets are going to get more colorful this spring as the newly redesigned $10 bill goes into circulation.

The new $10 features shades of orange, yellow and red. It joins colorized versions of the $20 bill and the $50 bill as the Bureau of Engraving and Printing attempts to stay one step ahead of counterfeiters and ever-more sophisticated copying machines.

James Brent, the Chief of the Offfice of Currency Production, told CBS Radio News, "As technology has improved, there certainly is more available to would-be counterfeiters when it comes to reproducing United States currency."

The Federal Reserve will begin shipping Thursday the first of 800 million of the new $10 bills to commercial banks. In the next few days, those bills will start showing up in cash registers around the country.

To highlight the occasion, U.S. Treasurer Anna Escobedo Cabral, whose signature appears on the nation's currency, will spend the first redesigned $10 at the gift store of the National Archives.

That location was selected because the new bill will feature in red letters the phrase "We the People" from the Constitution, which is housed at the Archives.

It will take time before all the old-style green $10 bills currently in circulation are replaced by the more colorful model.

"I suspect they will trickle down from the regional banks to local and commercial banks within the next week or so," Brent said.

The older-designed notes will continue to be valid currency for as long as they are in circulation.

The new $10 bill still features Alexander Hamilton, the first U.S. Treasury secretary, on one side, and the Treasury building on the other side. But those two images are joined by the Statue of Liberty's torch and "We the People" in red along with small yellow 10s and a subtle orange background.

The colorized $20 note went into circulation in 2003 and it was followed in 2004 by a newly designed $50 note.

The $100 bill is the next denomination scheduled to receive a dash of color. However, the introduction of that bill has been delayed while the government conducts a search for additional security features to protect the denomination that is the most frequently counterfeited outside of the United States.

The hope is to introduce the $100 in 2007. There are no plans to colorize the $1 bill or the $5 bill.