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Your local convenience store may not accept bills larger than $20, but once upon a time you could have paid for your gum with a nice fresh $10,000 bill. What’s the story behind the large-denomination bills that the government used to issue?
What big bills has the U.S. issued?
In 1928, the federal government overhauled its system of printing banknotes. It shaved about an inch of length and just under a half of an inch in width off of the bills and issued the new smaller bills in the $1 to $100 denominations with which we’re familiar. However, the Treasury also issued larger denominations. They featured William McKinley ($500), Grover Cleveland ($1,000), James Madison ($5,000), and Salmon P. Chase ($10,000).
Who the heck was Salmon P. Chase?
His name might not be as familiar as those of the Presidents featured on the other big bills, but once upon a time Chase was a big wheel in American politics. Chase, a mid-19th century politician, served as Chief Justice of the United States, spent stints as Ohio’s governor and senator, and was Lincoln’s first Secretary of the Treasury.
Nice resume, but how did Chase end up on the $10,000 bill?
He was in the right place at the right time. When the federal government started issuing greenback notes in 1861, Chase, as Secretary of the Treasury, was in charge of designing and popularizing the new currency. The politically ambitious Chase had to pick a portrait subject for the first $1 bill, and he chose…Salmon P. Chase.
Although putting his face in everyone’s pocketbooks never propelled Chase to the presidency, when the Treasury started issuing the new $10,000 bills in 1928 they put Chase’s portrait on the obverse to honor the man who helped introduce modern banknotes.
Even if you don’t have a $10,000 bill Chase’s name might still be in your wallet. Chase National Bank, the forerunner to Chase Manhattan Bank, was named in his honor.
Why on earth was the government printing such giant bills in the first place?
Believe it or not, it wasn’t just to save space in fatcats’ wallets. When the Treasury started printing these giant bills, their main purpose was making transfer payments between banks and other financial institutions. Before sophisticated wire transfer systems were fully developed, it was apparently easier and safer just to fork over a $5,000 bill to settle up with a fellow bank. Once transfer technology became safer and more secure, there really wasn’t much need for the big bills anymore.
What’s the largest denomination of currency the U.S. has printed?
That would be the Series 1934 $100,000 gold certificate. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing only made these notes during a three-week stretch during December 1934 and January 1935. Even the few plutocrats who had that much cash during the Depression couldn’t carry one of the $100K bills, though. They were only used for official transactions between Federal Reserve Banks, and the Treasurer of the United States only issued them to Fed banks that had an equal amount of gold in the Treasury. The note featured a picture of Woodrow Wilson.
Are any of these bills left in circulation?
There sure are, but don’t expect to find a $500 bill the next time you make an ATM withdrawal. The Treasury announced on July 14, 1969, that it would quit issuing the $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 notes immediately, since the bills were so sparsely circulated. It’s not like the Bureau of Engraving and Printing had to stop the presses, either; the bills hadn’t seen an actual print run since 1945.
When the Treasury discontinued the bills, they rapidly fell out of circulation. However, a few are still lingering; as of May 2009, there were still 336 $10,000 bills at large. At the same time, Slate reported that there were also 342 $5,000 bills and 165,732 $1,000 bills still floating around.
If they’re out of circulation, can you still spend them?
Although the Treasury is no longer issuing these bills, according to the Fed they’re still legal tender. So yes, although it would probably raise some eyebrows, you could walk into Best Buy and plunk down a $1,000 bill to pay for a new plasma TV.
That wouldn’t be the smartest move, though. Most of the high-denomination bills that are left in circulation are in collectors’ safes, and at auction the bills tend to fetch prices that far exceed their face values. For instance, a pristine $10,000 bill can command a price as high as $140,000 on the open market.
What happens if you bring one of these big bills to a bank?
If you put it in your safety deposit box, your bill will be safe. Chase Bank actually acquired one of the $10,000 bills in its currency collection when a deceased customer’s family found the bill in her deposit box and traded it for $10,000 in cash. Deposit the historical loot into your checking account, though, and it’s bad news for the bill. You’ll get the cash deposited in your account, but since the 1969 order to stop distributing these bills, Fed banks have been pulling the notes from circulation and destroying them whenever they are received.
Of course, there are other potential pitfalls to depositing a big bill, like blowing your cover when you’re on the lam. Last February, three teenagers in Texas Township, Michigan, swiped one of their parents’ safes and drove to Birmingham, Alabama, with their booty. Their downfall came when they tried to change an antique $1,000 bill from the safe at a bank. The police nabbed the thieves after a call from a suspicious teller.
So there was never a real $1 million bill?
Nope, but that doesn’t mean that people haven’t tried to make one. In 2004 woman in Covington, Georgia, tried to pick up a $1,675 tab at a local Wal-Mart with a forged $1 million bill featuring a picture of the Statue of Liberty. Police quickly arrested her. It’s hard to say what’s more ludicrous: trying to pass off a million-dollar bill or thinking that Wal-Mart would just fork over $998,325 in change.
Someone gave me a fake $1 million bill as a joke…was that illegal?
As long as you don’t try to spend it or deposit it, you’re in the clear. Gag makers and some religious and political groups have printed novelty $1 million bills for decades. In 1982, these novelty bills came to the attention of the Secret Service, which ruled that since there wasn’t a real $1 million bill, these joke versions weren’t technically forgeries or violations of any laws.
What about the opposite of these bills: the elusive $2 bill?
Although you don’t see the $2 bill all that often, it’s still a circulating denomination of American currency. According the U.S. Treasury, there are over $1.5 billion worth of $2 bills currently circulating around the world. However, since the bill changes hands less frequently than other denominations, it’s not printed as often, either. The Treasury hasn’t whipped up a batch of twofers since 2003 2006.
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Comments (28)
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I generally use $2 bills as bookmarks. It means that I always have at least $2 on me.
posted by Steven on 1-12-2010 at 1:25 pm
I can’t remember if it was on the floss site or not, but I recently read an article calling for the demonetization of the $100 bill. Apparently over 60% of the bills are used in black markets throughout the world, and the thought was to get rid of it to cripple the black markets. My guess is they’d just switch over to the Euro, though.
posted by Joel on 1-12-2010 at 1:37 pm
I was just in Greenville, SC last month and the stripclub that we went to gave you your change in $2 bills. It is a great way to earn more tips. The locals told me to make sure I spent them in the club because everyone will know where you have been if they see them in your wallet.
posted by Charlie on 1-12-2010 at 1:53 pm
@Charlie – especially when the proprietor stamps the name and phone number of the club on the back of each bill.
posted by Steaming Pile on 1-12-2010 at 2:36 pm
One of my former bosses used to keep a $1000 bill in his wallet, which he liked to show off. I was a coin collector as a kid, so I freaked him out a bit when I knew Grover Cleveland was on the front even before he took it out.
My prize currency finds in general circulation were a 1930′s vintage $10 bill and a $1 silver certificate
posted by Wallis Lane on 1-12-2010 at 2:36 pm
Amazingly, I received a $2 bill as change from the hospital cafeteria the day my twins were born.
posted by Chet on 1-12-2010 at 2:40 pm
Binion’s Horseshoe in Las Vegas had a display of 100 $10,000 bills in one of the lobbies. You could get a free photograph of yourself standing with a million dollars in cash, so there are probably a lot of those photographs floating around.
When Becky Binion took over the joint, she took down the display and sold the currency for much more than $1M.
posted by David M on 1-12-2010 at 2:47 pm
Just wanted to mention that the “portrait of Madison” ($5000) was featured prominently in my favorite Chanlder novel, The Long Good-bye.
posted by Dave on 1-12-2010 at 3:19 pm
I was stationed in Germany in the early 80′s and 2 dollar bills, Susan B. Anthony dollars were everywhere. It was like they shipped both out of the US
posted by AC on 1-12-2010 at 3:48 pm
I have a few $2 bills I received as change when I visited Monticello. The friend who went with me was jealous because she had just paid for her ticket with her debit or credit card and I got $2 bills as change for paying with cash.
Also, I have a friend who went to UVA and I think his alumni association occassionally sends $2 bills or something.
Just hang out in Charlottesville, Virginia a bit and you’re bound to find a $2…or go to that strip club in South Carolina, that’s pretty awesome.
posted by Lilly on 1-12-2010 at 4:46 pm
Somewhere I still have my oversized Billion Dollar bill that came as a bonus mini-poster in the giant snakeskin wallet-shaped “Billion Dollar Babies” LP by Alice Cooper. Never tried to spend it!
posted by Skot on 1-12-2010 at 5:01 pm
@David You can still get your picture taken at Binion’s with a million dollars.
Also just wanted to point out making your own money is not illegal. ANYONE can make their own money. DISNEYLAND is a perfect case in point. You can’t try to make FEDERAL money, but there are towns that have done this. A group of business owners would get together and make some “money” and ask the customers if they would like that as change, if I remember correctly you could use it pretty much anywhere in that town.
posted by Aaron on 1-12-2010 at 7:14 pm
My mom works at the airport and they have a money room and she can exchange anything and as a result I have a good amount of $2 bills racked up in a little piggy bank =]
posted by Barbara on 1-12-2010 at 11:50 pm
Woah woah woah there, buddy! Just because the last printed series of $2 bills was 2003A, doesn’t mean they haven’t been printed since the actual year 2003!
Series 2003 bills were printed from August through October of 2003, as can be seen here:
http://www.uspapermoney.info/serials/f2003_b.html
And 2003A series Toms were printed from July to September of 2006, as can be seen here:
http://www.uspapermoney.info/serials/f2003ab.html
Also, Barbara, you’d be better off getting those $2 bills out of your piggy bank and putting them in an actual bank, earning interest instead of collecting dust. You can get $2 bills anytime you want, just by asking the teller at your bank. They’re not rare one bit, and the more people use them, the more the BEP will print, to meet demand.
posted by Jake Stichler on 1-13-2010 at 2:26 am
I recently received a $1.00 silver certificate as change from a large chain drugstore… the clueless 20-something behind the counter had no idea what the “funny looking” dollar bill really was… you never know what will turn up these days…
posted by Irene on 1-13-2010 at 9:23 am
recaptcha: these tendered
LOL!!
posted by Jaime on 1-13-2010 at 12:41 pm
@Charlie (regarding $2 at strip clubs) –
I’m down in Columbia, SC and the strip clubs do the same thing here. Awkward b/c I’m a teller and a few of our branches are down the street from strip clubs, so Monday deposits with the $2s are ominious. That or Friday afternoon requests for “one hundred in ones”. ugh.
Such a smart move on the clubs’ part, though.
Thanks for the history of the bills. I was curious, especially after taking the quizzes earlier this week.
posted by OkieMelissa on 1-13-2010 at 1:03 pm
You can get $2 bills in any bank – they’re not that rare. When I was a bank teller, I had a customer that came in every two weeks and got so much change from his paycheck – in $2 bills.
posted by Jamie on 1-13-2010 at 3:02 pm
I like go to the bank, get a stack of fifty $2 bills, and with a clamp, some gauze, a sheet of cardboard and some rubber cement, bind them up checkbook-style.
I peel ‘em off one by one as needed, and if anyone asks where I got the money that way, I tell them that it doesn’t cost extra, but their bank has to special order it from the Federal Reserve.
I wonder what the bank tellers hear…
posted by Michael on 1-14-2010 at 1:34 am
Charlie,
I appreciate your patronage.
posted by Chastity on 1-14-2010 at 3:48 am
Clever Chastity. Good for you, you sexy flosser.
posted by chrilew on 1-14-2010 at 11:59 am
There’s a website http://www.wheresgeorge.com where you can track your money. I have entered over 800 $2 bills and have received hits only only 8 of them. And a big thumbs up to Jake for indicating that the series year of the bill is not necessarily the year the bill was printed.
posted by Bedfordtony on 1-16-2010 at 8:52 am
Out here in LA, i remember a while back a teacher xeroxed real money to use in her classroom as money, as a behavior incentive and helping kids learn to use money. It was for a young bunch, like 2nd grade. She got busted and charged with copying federal bills and they were gonna let her off if she re-collected all the copied money. Seemed pretty ludicrous to me, but you can be sure i used fake classroom money after reading that.
posted by Christa on 1-17-2010 at 6:17 pm
To learn more about the world of banknotes, visit the blog http://www.globalpapersecurity.com
posted by michaela on 1-29-2010 at 1:53 pm
@ Christa: That’s crazy they would charge someone for xeroxing a bill!
The recaptcha postings went over my head until now: This winter
posted by kelly on 3-23-2010 at 4:31 pm
I have $100,000 bill
can I get paid by today’s money
posted by park on 5-19-2010 at 9:35 pm
So Chase Bank basically took the deceased customer’s family for $130,000. And they’re *proud* of this story? That customer is turning in his/her grave!!
posted by knmochl on 8-10-2010 at 6:53 am
The Covington, GA Wal-Mart got suspicious when she said, “Keep the change.” :)
posted by Michael on 9-3-2010 at 2:37 pm