Large-Denomination US Currency



Once, the United States issued $5,000, $10,000, and even $100,000 bills. Why on earth would someone carry bills that big, especially back when they were really worth something?
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.

Mental_floss has the story on when and why such large bills were issued, what they looked like, and why they aren't in circulation anymore. Link

Have you noticed...the worse the president was, the higher the denomination? I mean, look, Woodrow Wilson was on the 100,000 dollar bill!
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Worse the president? Uh, no. It'd be hard to find anyone sucking more than Andrew Jackson. And Cleveland Rocks. Also, half of them weren't even presidents... Chase, Franklin, Hamilton.
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I'm sure there is a committee which comes to an agreement of which president is printed on new bills. Considering that this bill isn't made for public distribution, they could have easily just drawn names from a hat.
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