$20 BILL A BUST; AMERICANS DECONSTRUCT DESIGN OF UPDATED U.S. CURRENCY.

Byline: Malcom Foster Bloomberg News

The new $20 bill, introduced in September, is getting mixed reviews from Americans, who complain the security-enhanced notes look like play money, lack class and are hard to distinguish from other new bills.

The larger, off-center portrait of Andrew Jackson is the most noticeable difference from the old $20 bill, which was designed 70 years ago. The new bills feature a simpler, more modern look.

``The old ones look more valuable,'' said Edward Dahoud, 43, who works at a delicatessen in midtown Manhattan. ``They had more green, which makes them look more like money. The new ones look like coupons.''

Some 61 percent of adults think the new bill doesn't look like real money, according to a Gallup Poll. Still, 49 percent of those surveyed like it and 6 percent love it, the poll found. Among dissenters, 23 percent dislike it and 12 percent hate it. The other 10 percent either hadn't seen the bill or had no comment.

The government spent about $765,000 and five years to design, research and test a new series of bank notes. The goal of the project, a joint-effort by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve, and Secret Service, is to deter counterfeiting, which has become easier with advanced computer and color printing technology.

Some $153 million in false U.S. currency appeared worldwide in the 12 months through September, according to the Secret Service, about three-quarters of which was seized prior to circulation. With $494 billion of U.S. notes circulating worldwide, that's about 0.33 percent.

New security features include a watermark to the right of Jackson's portrait, whose ghost-like visage appears when the bill is held up to the light. The note also uses color-shifting ink in the numeral on the lower right front corner. The ink appears green when viewed directly and changes to black when viewed from an angle.

``Changing technologies made redesigning absolutely necessary,'' said Claudia Dickens, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which does the actual engraving and printing of U.S. bills.

The most commonly counterfeited note in the U.S. is the $20, while the $100 bill is the most commonly faked abroad. The introduction of the new $100 note in March 1996 and new $50 in October 1997 didn't attract much attention because they aren't used much in everyday business.

About two-thirds of U.S. currency circulates outside the U.S. - a testimony to the perceived safety and soundness of the dollar. ``Many people in the former Soviet republics and in Latin American countries, where the local currencies are less stable, store their savings in dollars,'' said Howard Schloss, a spokesman for the Treasury.

The enhanced security features don't seem to impress many people, who said that while the new bill may be safer, it has lost a lot of the aesthetic appeal of its predecessor.

The increased amount of white space on the back of the new bill, for instance, makes it look like play money used in the Monopoly board game, says John Kurtich, a professor at the Art Institute of Chicago.

``More intricate designs'' give bills ``a visual sense of worth,'' Kurtich says, who also doesn't like the ``glamorized'' Jackson portrait or the varied numeral sizes in each corner. ``It looks like it was done by a nondesigner,'' he said.

Among sales clerks and merchants, a widely heard complaint is that the new $20 bill is hard to distinguish from the new $50 bill.

When counting money, sales clerks tend to look at the numbers in the corners, not the portraits. At a glance, the new $20 looks like a $50, many said. The $20 bill is especially hard to distinguish against the dark background along the upper edge of the note, they say.

The public better get used to these changes because the government expects to issue new $10 and $5 notes in 2000. There aren't any plans to redesign the $1 bill, because it is seldom counterfeited.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: no caption (montage of $20 bills)