I am so tired of hearing friends and acquaintances claiming a dollar bill (US) is fake because it glows in black light. I explain to them to look at the printing date. They are always about 6-8 years old from printing date and explain it is the linen/paper they use now and that you see a lot of them since $1 bills are recycled much more than $20 or $100 bills.
Can someone show me a site that conveys this easily? The US Mint doesn’t seem to have one. Only YouTube videos by idiots who cite those as example.
You’re both wrong. US Currency is still made by the Crane Paper Company and it is still 100% cotton paper. US currency is made from new cotton, never laundered.
When new, currency does not fluoresce under black light, except for the printed fluorescent bands on higher denomination currency. When used, it still doesn’t fluoresce unless someone has forgotten it in a pocket and run it through the wash using a laundry detergent with optical brighteners. That’s probably what your friends are seeing. As the bills age, the probability that they’ve taken a trip through the washer approaches one.
I don’t know what you mean by $1 bills are recycled much more than $10 or $20 dollar bills. $1 bills are probably more likely to be forgotten in the pocket of your jeans.
There’s just not much appeal in counterfeiting small denominations. Clerks get suspicious if you pay for a TV with 200 new dollar bills, whether they glow in black light or not.
I suspect he means $1s are more heavily handled and therefore don’t last as long as $20s do. As such the supply of $1s turns over more quickly as the bills are worn out and removed from service. IOW, IMO “recycled” was a poor choice of words when he really meant “replaced”.
Although why he would think that a short life and rapid turnover cause a UV glow is a mystery to me. Unless he’s thinking the UV glow is a recently introduced anti-counterfeiting feature and would therefore more commonly be seen on $1s than $20s since $1s are on average much newer than are $20s.
In any case you’ve got the right answer: laundry detergent adds a UV glow to anything that’s been washed.
I used “recycled” thinking some of the old bills went into making the same paper/linen combo. Hey, I like to think positively.
What I thought was that the entire bill on NEWLY issued bills reflected in UV light because all the bills I’ve seen glow have been from 2006 or newer. :smack:
If those were my friends and acquaintances, I’d tell them since the currency is fake and useless, just leave it with me and I’ll properly dispose of it.
Believe me I thought of it. I also told them they could tell the treasury department and send them the dollar bill, but probably won’t get it back. They chose to keep the dollar. So that’s something!
I also told them they could tell the treasury department and send them the dollar bill, but probably won’t get it back. They chose to keep the dollar. So that’s something!