$100,000 bill

[scyther]

I know that $100,000 bills were only made for banks and not for individuals... but surely some of them ended up in private hands, right? I can't find any videos with one on Youtube and it doesn't say how many still exist on Wikipedia like it does for some other large denominations... do any still exist? And how much would they cost?

[henrysmedford]

From--http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-19/brother-can-you-spare-a-100-000-bill-echoes.html

Brother, Can You Spare a $100,000 Bill?: Echoes
By Kristin Aguilera - Dec 19, 2011

In one of financial history's great ironies, the first $100,000 bill rolled off the presses on Dec. 18, 1934 -- at the very height of the Great Depression.

These bills, issued as gold certificates, were never publicly circulated. They were issued only to Federal Reserve banks against the equivalent amount of gold held by the Treasury. Their purpose was to facilitate banking transactions in a time prior to electronic money transfers.

The notes bear the portrait of Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the U.S. They were printed for just a few weeks, and only 42,000 were ever produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

Although the $100,000 gold notes never publicly circulated, several other high-denomination notes did. The largest of these is the $10,000 bill bearing the portrait of Salmon P. Chase, whose accomplishments as Treasury Secretary included issuing the first U.S. federal legal tender (the "greenback") and engineering the National Banking Act, a critical financing mechanism for the Civil War. Notes in denominations of $500 (William McKinley), $1,000 (Grover Cleveland) and $5,000 (James Madison) also circulated publicly.

In 1969, the U.S. government ceased issuing high-denomination notes and began removing them from circulation. The main impetus for this change was the notes' close association with organized crime, and with the trafficking of drugs and weapons. For criminals, the appeal was obvious: The notes made it easy to transport large quantities of cash without drawing undue attention. Counterfeiting was also a major concern, particularly outside the U.S.

Today, the $100 bill is the largest to circulate, and higher-denomination notes are mostly in museum collections. (An unissued "specimen" of the $100,000 gold note is currently on view in the Museum of American Finance.) Many are also still held by Federal Reserve banks.

U.S. federal currency is unusual internationally in that even the earliest issues -- of 1861 -- have never been demonetized. So if you happen to find a high-denomination note, you can cash it in at any bank for face value (or, better yet, sell it on the collector's market for a higher price).

All except the $100,000 gold certificate may legally be held in private hands.

(Kristin Aguilera is the deputy director of the Museum of American Finance and the editor of Financial History magazine.)

To contact the writer of this blog post: Kristin Aguilera at kaguilera@moaf.org.

To contact the editor responsible for this blog post: Timothy Lavin at tlavin1@bloomberg.net.

[scyther]

Hm. Interesting. I wonder if that's just because none were ever in private hands to begin with, or if they made it illegal.

[henrysmedford]

I am now lost on this one. Looks like one sold for less than face see -- http://currency.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=364&lotIdNo=7329 That what you find on Google when you should be sleeping. So it must be OK to own but not OK to spend?


SafariScreenSnapz001 by henrysmedford, on Flickr

[henrysmedford]

I am now lost on this one. Looks like one sold for less than face see -- http://currency.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=364&lotIdNo=7329 That what you find on Google when you should be sleeping. So it must be OK to own but not OK to spend?

I am now un lost on this one, It is a SPECIMEN . So 74k . Is a lot of money. So back to bed I go.

Excessively Rare $100,000 Gold Certificate Specimen
$100,000 1934 Gold Certificate Specimen. Choice New. But for moderate aging of the paper, this is a perfect example of this ultra-high denomination note. No actual $100,000 bills remain outstanding and these specimen notes are the only form of this denomination available to collectors. This is one of only three examples that we know of. The printing is perfect, the margins are the size of a generously margined, perfectly centered regular issue note. The blank back is printed with the silver "SPECIMEN NOT NEGOTIABLE" printing seen on many of these. It's by far the rarest and most valuable specimen note in the Taylor Family holdings.

[cupronickel]

The note in the auction wasn't an actual $100,000 note. I believe every federal reserve branch has one on display in the lobby. I saw one in the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank. You can just walk in and look at the exhibit in the lobby. More interesting than visiting the mint. Also, way less crowded.

[scyther]

The note in the auction wasn't an actual $100,000 note. I believe every federal reserve branch has one on display in the lobby. I saw one in the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank. You can just walk in and look at the exhibit in the lobby. More interesting than visiting the mint. Also, way less crowded.

How many federal reserve branches are there? I thought there were only a few $100,000 bills left in existence.

[henrysmedford]

The note in the auction wasn't an actual $100,000 note. I believe every federal reserve branch has one on display in the lobby. I saw one in the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank. You can just walk in and look at the exhibit in the lobby. More interesting than visiting the mint. Also, way less crowded.

How many federal reserve branches are there? I thought there were only a few $100,000 bills left in existence.

There is 12. see--http://www.federalreserveeducation.org/about-the-fed/structure-and-functions/districts/

[SilverEye]

Benny Binion of the Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas had 100 x $10,000 bills on display back in the day. Binion's Million. Wish I would have got my picture with it.