How to Check a Genuine United States Dollar

$1

The $1 has never been redesigned and carries none of the modern features. There is no watermark, no security thread, no colour-shifting ink and no microprinting to look for, so this note has to be judged entirely on substrate and print quality.

Feel the paper for the firm cotton-linen texture, look for the embedded red and blue fibres, and run a nail over the portrait of Washington and the ornate border to feel the raised intaglio ink. Examine the fine lines of the border and the Treasury seal under magnification, on a genuine note they are unbroken and evenly inked.

Treat a $1 that appears to have a watermark or a security thread as suspect. It does not have either, so anything visible when the note is held to the light does not belong there.

$2

Like the $1, the $2 has never been redesigned and has no watermark, security thread or colour-shifting ink. The same substrate and print-quality checks apply: cotton-linen feel, embedded fibres, raised intaglio print on the portrait of Jefferson, and crisp unbroken border lines.

The $2 is uncommon in circulation but entirely genuine and current. Being handed one is not in itself a reason for suspicion.

$5

Hold the note to the light. The watermark in the blank space to the right of the portrait is a large numeral 5, not a repeat of the portrait, and there are three smaller 5s in the space to the left of the portrait. Both must be visible from either side and must vanish when the note lies flat.

The security thread sits to the left of the portrait, reads USA FIVE, and glows blue under ultraviolet light.

There is no colour-shifting ink on the $5. Two large purple 5s (one on the front to the right of the portrait, one on the back) are simply printed in purple and do not change colour when tilted, so the absence of a shift here is not a warning sign.

$10

The watermark repeats the portrait of Hamilton in the blank space to its right, visible from both sides.

The security thread sits to the right of the portrait, reads USA TEN, and glows orange under ultraviolet light.

Tilt the note to check the numeral 10 in the lower right corner of the front, which shifts from copper to green.

$20

The watermark repeats the portrait of Jackson in the blank space to its right.

The security thread sits to the far left of the portrait, reads USA TWENTY, and glows green under ultraviolet light.

Tilt the note to check the numeral 20 in the lower right corner of the front, which shifts from copper to green. The $20 is the most frequently counterfeited note in general circulation, so it is worth running the watermark, thread and colour-shift checks together rather than relying on any one of them.

$50

The watermark repeats the portrait of Grant in the blank space to its right.

The security thread sits to the far right of the portrait, reads USA 50 with a small flag, and glows yellow under ultraviolet light.

Tilt the note to check the numeral 50 in the lower right corner of the front, which shifts from copper to green.

$100

The $100 carries the most features of any denomination and is the note most worth checking carefully, since it is the one most often presented in a currency exchange.

Hold it to the light: the watermark repeats the portrait of Franklin in the blank space to its right, and the security thread to the left of the portrait reads USA 100. Under ultraviolet light that thread glows pink.

Tilt the note for two separate colour-shift checks. The numeral 100 in the lower right corner of the front shifts from copper to green, and the bell inside the copper inkwell shifts the same way, so that it seems to appear and disappear as the note moves.

Then check the 3-D security ribbon, the blue band to the right of the portrait. Tilting the note up and down makes the bells and 100s on it move side to side; tilting it side to side makes them move up and down. The ribbon is woven into the paper, so at the top and bottom edges of the note the paper passes over and under it, a printed imitation is flat and static.

Older-design $100 notes without the blue ribbon remain perfectly valid. On those, check the watermark, thread, colour-shifting numeral and raised print instead.