On the latest $100 bill (series 2009), released last October, there is a blank creamy white area that contains a hidden watermark security feature to help negate counterfeiting. The US Treasury web site says that the hidden graphic is a portrait of Benjamin Franklin. However, everyone I showed the bill to (simply hold it up to some light such as a window) sees a different historical figure.
At first glance I thought it was a portrait of a Native American. The portrait appears to be an older President George Washington, and really doesn’t look like an older Benjamin Franklin. If this is in fact the case, then hopefully the mistake is just a typo on the US Treasury web site. Otherwise, could the bills have been misprinted with the wrong portrait due to a proof reading error, or error in the production process? When it comes to the Fed, we’ll probably never know.
If this interests you, then grab a crisp $100 bill at your bank, and see who you think is in the hidden watermark. Maybe it is one of the other Free Masons?
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