Background: I just found out this year that my birthday is also the same day Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton in a duel.

Ever noticed the “blank” oval on the back of a $10 bill? There’s actually a larger oval on the front side that corresponds with it. If you hold it up to the light from the obverse side, you’ll see a faint outline of Hamilton’s face. I’m posting this because this bill has been out for six years and I just saw that oval while researching Hamilton, and here I thought I was pretty observant.

Interesting factoid. Treasury was going to replace Hamilton on the ten in 2020, but the popularity of the stage play “Hamilton” caused them to change their minds.

Hamilton is well known as a Founding Father. Author of about 60% of the Federalist Papers. First Secretary of the Treasury, and the victim of an infamous duel. There is so much more to him than that. BTW, historians believe Hamilton intended to “throw away his shot” in the duel with Burr, never intending to shoot to kill—only uphold his honor by facing Burr.

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Originally posted by TMats:
Ever noticed the “blank” oval on the back of a $10 bill? There’s actually a larger oval on the front side that corresponds with it. If you hold it up to the light from the obverse side, you’ll see a faint outline of Hamilton’s face.

Yep. This portrait watermark is present on all newer style $100s, $50s, $20s, and $10s. The $5s have a similar watermark too, but it's a large numeral 5 instead of Lincoln's face.

And these watermarks are visible from either side of the bill.

https://www.currexy.com/us-dollar-security-features

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There is so much more to him than that.

Coast Guard I think, right?

I've also read about a possible relationship with John Laurens.

Watermarks have been used on foreign currency for many years.

Boy, you are old!

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Originally posted by Sailor1911:
Boy, you are old!

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Background: I just found out this year that my birthday is also the same day Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton in a duel.

The Burr–Hamilton duel was fought at Weehawken, New Jersey between Vice President Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, the former Secretary of the Treasury. It occurred on July 11, 1804

Well Happy 215th Birthday!!

Politicians shooting each other. Maybe that system works better than our current state of government.
Happy Birthday!

Is it now ok to post pictures of currency? Anybody know if it was a no no years ago?

Note: Just read up on it. Evidently it's ok.

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Originally posted by REdwin89:
Is it now ok to post pictures of currency? Anybody know if it was a no no years ago?

Note: Just read up on it. Evidently it's ok.

Only under certain conditions...

https://legalbeagle.com/761213...l-copy-currency.html

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Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
Ever noticed the “blank” oval on the back of a $10 bill? There’s actually a larger oval on the front side that corresponds with it. If you hold it up to the light from the obverse side, you’ll see a faint outline of Hamilton’s face.

Yep. This portrait watermark is present on all newer style $100s, $50s, $20s, and $10s. The $5s have a similar watermark too, but it's a large numeral 5 instead of Lincoln's face.

And these watermarks are visible from either side of the bill.

https://www.currexy.com/us-dollar-security-features

Thanks for the link. Just to be clear though, what I was admitting to not noticing is the “blank oval” clearly visible on the obverse side of the $10. It appears from following your link, that the $100 dollar bill is the only other with a similar “window.” While all the others have security features (and I believe they always have), none of the others have that feature.

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Originally posted by TMats:
none of the others have that feature.

If by “feature” you mean a watermark, the newest $5, $20, $50, and $100 notes all have it. Only the $10 has a clearly outlined oval for it to appear in, but watermarks are present on all the rest. And watermarks are much harder to fake than paper without starch for those silly iodine markers to detect.

The founding father I share a first name with, and also the one I like the least.

Tom's my guy.

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Originally posted by zipriderson:

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There is so much more to him than that.

Coast Guard I think, right?

I've also read about a possible relationship with John Laurens.

Yup, he’s the founder of the Revenue Cutter Service which turned into the modern Coast Guard. The fact that he was in a duel, makes him even cooler regardless of what it was over.

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Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
none of the others have that feature.

If by “feature” you mean a watermark, the newest $5, $20, $50, and $100 notes all have it. Only the $10 has a clearly outlined oval for it to appear in, but watermarks are present on all the rest. And watermarks are much harder to fake than paper without starch for those silly iodine markers to detect.

Sorry, I really thought I was quite clear about it. Obviously not