Plan B Forum

US treasury stockpiles billions in flawed $100 bills


The newly redesigned bill, shown here in promotional materials, still bears Benjamin Franklin's face


A printing error has forced the US to stockpile $110bn (£69.78bn) in new $100 notes until officials can sort and destroy the flawed bills.

A snag in the printing process left up to 30% of the notes with a blank patch on the face, US network CNBC reported.

Officials are working to devise a mechanical process to sort the flawed bills. Doing so by hand would take up to 30 years, officials said.

The new, high-security notes were to begin circulating in February 2011.

"We are confident that a very high proportion of the notes will be fit for circulation," Treasury Department spokeswoman Darlene Anderson said.

The bills, which represent an estimated one-tenth of the value of all US currency in circulation, are being held in US government facilities in Washington DC and Fort Worth in the state of Texas.

They are the latest in a series of redesigns of US currency intended to fight counterfeiting. The bills are also the first to bear the signature of President Barack Obama's Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner.

US news media reported the high-quality cotton and linen fibre stock creased during production of some of the bills, yielding a portion that was not printed.

Taiwan forensic expert repairs shredded banknotes

A Taiwanese forensic expert has worked a full week - day and night - piecing together hundreds of banknotes, after a factory owner put them in a shredder.

Justice ministry official Liu Hui-fen, a handwriting expert, said repairing the notes had taken a lot of patience.

The factory owner, named only as Lin, said he accidentally dumped a plastic bag filled with notes into an industrial scrap machine last month.

The Central Bank confirmed the notes were acceptable and would be honoured.

Under Taiwanese law, people can claim replacement notes as long as at least 75% of the original is intact.



For the past four years, Ms Liu has taken on responsibility for repairing gnarled banknotes on top of her usual job of handwriting expert.

So far, 247 such cases have been given to her, but she said this was the most difficult puzzle of the lot.

She was given 200 banknotes, each worth 1,000 Taiwan dollars (£21; $33), each shredded into tiny piece.

She said she located the Chinese character "guo", or country, on each note, and then worked outwards.

"I was so happy whenever I was able to put a piece into its right place," she said.

Meanwhile, Mr Lin offered his thanks, saying: "I'm sorry the job brought her so much trouble."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11962349

Gob wrote: A snag in the printing process left up to 30% of the notes with a blank patch

For the past four years, Ms Liu has taken on responsibility for repairing gnarled banknotes on top of her usual job of handwriting expert.

So far, 247 such cases have been given to her, but she said this was the most difficult puzzle of the lot.

She was given 200 banknotes, each worth 1,000 Taiwan dollars (£21; $33), each shredded into tiny piece.

She said she located the Chinese character "guo", or country, on each note, and then worked outwards.

"I was so happy whenever I was able to put a piece into its right place," she said.

Meanwhile, Mr Lin offered his thanks, saying: "I'm sorry the job brought her so much trouble."