Scanning New US Paper Money

If you have one of the relatively new Pan-Digital hand scanners, it will scan all notes from $1 to $100, all series 2009 and 2009A. However, on certain notes it has a tendency to create a rainbow effect (along the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on the $5, for example). But it's better than not being able to get a scan of it at all.

Nice image quality. Those are gorgeous notes, all of them.

I really like your Grant star note... that 2009 $50 is my personal favorite of current US currency, though the new $100s are impressive too.

I seem to recall something about kids (?) using scanners in connection with high quality color printers and creating their own bills in order to have some extra spending money. It was giving the Secret Service fits. Perhaps this is why a lot of scanners are not picking up currency images.

This plus the fact that some of the scanners do such a good job of capturing accurate images that they actually aid in counterfeiting.

In the back of mind there is something about Xerox color copiers doing such a good job of reproducing currency images that they were also used to print off extra $20's for spending money.

But I too, was told that copying currency was against the law.

The EURion constellation is used in notes all over the world. It's just a pattern of several circles, which are formed by the 0's. Modern printers and computers recognize this to prevent counterfeiting. I suppose you could just cover it up with a scrap of paper to scan.

I found a $20 bill I wanted to scan and it didn't work. I actually was convinced that my printer/scanner (2 in 1) was somehow broken, but as it turns out, it was just doing its job.

I never knew that the new bills had a feature like this. I scanned $1's before and thought that a $20 would be no problem. I just I will just have to bust out the ol' photography skills.

How about a little different approach for those who have a smart phone. Try the app called "Scannable". I have it on my iPhone and it works great. Not sure if it is available for Android and other devices.

Scannable also allows me to save the image straight to my Evernote account where I can save my interesting finds (only a few so far). It also allows many other types of saves such as: camera roll, email, SMS, etc...

Of course I use Scannable for lots of other items other than $$ finds.

Tons of older 4-function machines are available on ebay. I use an old HP 2610 without any note scanning problems at all.