# Strange stuff on a dollar bill... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 10, 2000, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-stuff-on-a-dollar-bill/6288 "2000-01-10T19:12:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zarathustra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/898d66/32.png) [@Zarathustra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zarathustra)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2001, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-stuff-on-a-dollar-bill/6288/41 "2001-05-08T00:53:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dougie\_monty \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > I was always told that the shape was a spider that wove the intricate web along the border of the bill, not an owl–not that it really matters. Anyway, what about the digits 3172 on the bushes to the left of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5? (The 3 requires a little imagination). > > As most people, the Teeming Millions included, know by now, the “3172” in the bushes on the back of the old fiver don’t appear there on the new bill. A correspondent wrote to Cecil in _More of the Straight Dope_ about this, saying it was the Illminati’s secret sign–“an anagram of the 17/23 correlation,” they put it. Cecil was stumped by this and so am I. FWIW, the reverse of the old $5 bill was apparently engraved around 1920; heck, a lot can happen in 80 years. If the Illuminati have a sign on the new-design currency, it’s probably those punk watermarks in the bills–they sure are poor likenesses, from Ben to Abe! 😃 \*\* So this has been on your mind for the past year and a half, has it? ---
**Author:** ![Tedster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2001, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-stuff-on-a-dollar-bill/6288/42 "2001-05-08T22:51:26Z")
According to coin/currency sites I’ve perused, the US $10 bill does not portray any specific brand or model of car, the bureau of engraving didn’t want to seem to be endorsing a particular car maker so kludged a generic vehicle together… ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2001, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-stuff-on-a-dollar-bill/6288/43 "2001-05-12T20:53:24Z")
> [@](#): > > So this has been on your mind for the past year and a half, has it? Not exactly, Zarathustra. After all, the new $5 bills haven’t been distributed for that long–particularly in Southern California. Besides, I’m a little piqued with the new bills because: 1. The obverse no longer shows which Federal Reserve bank the bill is issued through. 2. Abe Lincoln’s portrait on the new $5 bill doesn’t look as good; his hair is particularly ill-groomed. 3. On the old $10 and $100 bills, Hamilton and Franklin looked a little smug–they are the only subjects on U.S. Currency who never became President. (Lincoln, bitterly assailed during his term of office, once commented :“If it weren’t for the honor of the thing, I’d just as soon walk.”) 4. While the government urges us to use the Sacagawea dollar coin, they’re still printing dollar bills–with the old pattern–while Canada got its citizens to use the Looney dollar by ceasing to print paper dollars. (I seem to recall that even Cecil commented about this.) 5. As mentioned above, the watermark portraits don’t look very good–and they seem to vary from bill to bill. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2001, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-stuff-on-a-dollar-bill/6288/44 "2001-05-12T22:28:22Z")
So you people are telling me that a naked chick is just above and to the left of the Humpmobile? Oh, joy! 😃 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-stuff-on-a-dollar-bill/6288.md?page=2)