The history of the US dollar predates the United States itself. It goes back to the Revolutionary War when all thirteen colonies issued a single currency to fund the war against Britain. The current dollar was first issued during the Civil War. Several other currencies were introduced before, during, and after the war, and some even coexisted alongside the current dollar.

Interestingly, the present-day US currency has some bills that are rarely seen or even heard of. Ever heard of the $100,000 bill? Maybe not. Well! Here are ten old-timey bills and currencies of the US. Mind you, some are still legal tender even though they are out of print.

10Silver Certificates

Silver certificates were issued in the US between 1878 and 1964. They were used like regular money and were originally redeemable for their face value in silver coins. However, between June 1967 and June 1968, they could be exchanged for silver bullion and thereafter, regular bank notes. They remain legal tender and can still be traded for current bank bills. In fact, silver certificates closely resemble bank notes, except that their fine print reads “one dollar in silver payable to the bearer on demand.”

Interestingly and unknown to many, two versions of the $1 silver certificate issued in 1886 and 1891 are the first American paper money to ever feature the portrait of a woman. The woman was Martha Washington, the wife of George Washington and the first, first lady of the United States. Martha Washington silver certificates are valued among collectors. An 1891 version in perfect condition sells for about $1,500.^[1]

9Continental Currency

The Continental Currency was issued on June 22, 1775, at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, when the thirteen colonies that would later form the United States agreed they needed a unified currency to prosecute the war against Britain. The money was called “Continental” because it was issued by the Continental Congress, which was the highest governing body during the war. It consisted of delegates from all thirteen colonies.

The currency was backed by nothing other than the promise that it would be repaid from the funds generated from future taxes. The public had no trust in the money, and it led to inflation so bad that even George Washington complained about one wagonload of Continental Currency not buying one wagonload of supplies. Britain worsened the effect of the inflation by releasing counterfeit notes into the US.

The value of the Continental Currency varied from colony to colony. People even coined the idiom “not worth a Continental” to describe the worthlessness of an object. The money became so unstable that it crashed in May 1781.^[2] The failure of the currency put the newly formed United States in heavy debt at the end of the war. It was even one of the reasons why the US abandoned the idea of a confederation for a stronger central government. The US itself avoided issuing paper money until the Civil War.

8$100,000

In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered all US citizens to surrender all gold coins, gold bullion, and gold certificates in their possession. This was at the height of the Great Depression when people hoarded their gold and refused to accept paper money. In fact, paper money became so worthless that barter (the exchange of goods for other goods or services) became the preferred medium of exchange.

With most citizens separated from their gold, they were forced to spend the paper money. The federal government itself printed more money including a new $100,000 bill that featured the portrait of Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States.

There was a catch though. The bill was not legal tender since it was not intended for general use. It was specially made for branches of the Federal Reserve to use in high-value transactions. It remains the highest single bill denomination ever printed in the US.^[3]

7Demand Notes

The US federal government issued its first paper money when the US Civil War broke out in 1861. Before then, the federal government used gold and silver in its transactions while more than 8,000 banks independently issued and controlled all the paper money in circulation. The war seriously depleted the US treasury and caused widespread inflation. In response, Salmon P. Chase, the Secretary of Treasury, suggested that the government introduced a single paper money to replace all the paper monies issued by the banks.

This led to the introduction of Demand Notes, which are the first true paper money issued by the United States government. The Continental Currency mentioned above does not qualify as the first paper money because it was released before the formation of the United States. The government issued $10 million worth of Demand Notes, which was redeemable for gold or silver. However, it never caught on since people hoarded their gold and silver coins.

In 1862, the US Congress passed a law ordering the production of a new currency that was not redeemable for gold or silver. This led to the creation of the US dollars used to date. Demand Notes were taken out of circulation as this new paper money was introduced. At first, the paper money suffered from constant inflation and deflation as its value rose and fell depending on the victories and losses of the Union.^[4]

6Fractional Currency

As we already mentioned, Americans hoarded valuable coins during the US Civil War. To address this, the Treasury issued fractional currency notes in denominations of between one and fifty cents. Most Americans hated the fractional money, which they called “shinplasters” because of the extra thin paper used in its production. The paper was compared to the thin paper doctors used to make plaster casts.

In 1865, the Treasury announced plans to issue more fractional currency. However, Congress ordered that the three-cent fractional currency, which was originally a silver coin and was valued because of its use in making change and paying for postage (which cost exactly three cents) should not be made with shinplaster but with a mixture of nickel and copper.

The three-cent nickel was proposed by Congressman John Kasson, who was famous for previously disapproving the use of nickel in coins. Kasson did hate the idea of using nickels in coins, but he hated the shinplasters more, so he approved the nickel coin as the lesser of two evils.

The three-cent nickel, the three-cent silver, and the three-cent fractional currency remained in circulation until the silver was phased out in 1873. The three-cent fractional currency followed when all fractional currencies were discontinued in February 1876. The three-cent nickel itself was discontinued in 1889 when postage was reduced to two cents. All three-cent nickels were melted and remolded into five cent nickels.^[5]

5$1000

The 1,000 dollar bill is one of the rarest legal tenders in the US. It has been out of print since 1946 but is still acceptable by banks in exchange for $1,000 equivalent in credit. Banks are expected to remit all $1,000 bills deposited at their branches to the Federal Reserve, which ensures they do not go back into circulation. However, people with $1,000 notes prefer hoarding them since their rarity has made them worthier than their face value.

The US federal government printed its first $1,000 bill during the US Civil War even though the thirteen colonies that formed the United States had issued a $1,000 bill as part of the so-called Continental Currency. The Union used the money to purchase items like ammunition, which it needed to use to fight the war.

After the war, the $1,000 note and other similarly high valued bills were relegated for use in large-scale transactions like interbank transfers and property deals. It was last printed in 1946 but remained in circulation until 1969 when President Richard Nixon ordered the Federal Reserve to recall all high valued bills over fears that they would be used for money laundering. Besides this, the $1,000 bill was expensive to print since only a few were produced at a time.^[6]

4$10,000

The $10,000 bill is the highest legal tender ever printed in the US. Unlike the $100,000 note, it was intended for everyday use, and like the $1,000 bill, it remains a legal tender even though they were both taken out of circulation in 1969. The $10,000 note features the portrait of Salmon P. Chase, who served as President Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of Treasury. Chase also served as a senator and governor of Ohio and Chief Justice of the United States.

However, it was his role as Secretary of Treasury that earned him a place on the $10,000 bill. As we mentioned earlier, it was he who proposed the creation of a single, federally controlled paper money. The $10,000 bill was used for large transactions like settling interbank transfers and was not commonly used in public. Estimates point that there are less than 350 in circulation today. They are a huge collector’s item, and a crisp bill could fetch up to $140,000. A rough one could fetch $30,000.^[7]

3Double Eagle

The Double Eagle was a $20 gold coin issued between 1907 and 1932. It was taken out of circulation in 1933 when President Franklin Roosevelt banned American citizens from owning gold. 445,300 gold coins postdated 1933 had been minted by the time President Roosevelt issued the Executive Order and were never released. They were melted down and converted into bullion in 1937.

However, some of the 1933 gold coins escaped being melted. No one knows how the coins were smuggled out of the US Mint, but it is speculated that a cashier called George McCann switched about twenty 1933 Double Eagles for earlier versions. That way, no one would notice the difference in weight.

A jeweler called Israel Swift is known to have been in possession of nineteen of these coins, and he sold nine to private collectors. One was sold to King Farouk of Egypt. The coin reappeared when King Farouk was deposed in 1952 but disappeared again when whoever was in its possession realized that the Secret Service was still trying to recover it. The Secret Service only got hold of it forty years later when it launched a sting operation against Stephen Fenton, a British coin dealer who was in its possession.

The coin was stored in the treasury vault of the World Trade Center while Fenton and the US Mint engaged in a lengthy legal battle, which ended with Fenton and the US Mint agreeing to sell the coin and splitting the proceeds. The coin was then moved from the World Trade Center to Fort Knox two months before the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The coin sold for a record $7,590,000, which includes a 15 percent buyer fee and an additional $20 for its face value. Joan Langbord, one of Swift’s heirs uncovered ten more coins in September 2004. She sent them to the US Mint for authentication, but the Secret Service immediately seized them.^[8]

2Treasury Notes

Also called Coin Notes, Treasury Notes are series of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, and $1,000 bills issued in the United States between 1890 and 1891. They were issued after the passage of the Legal Tender Act of July 14, 1890, which permitted the Secretary of Treasury to print the notes as payment for the silver bullion purchased by the Treasury.

Treasury Notes could be redeemed for gold or silver coins, depending on the preference set by the Secretary of Treasury. A 500 dollar bill was also planned but was never issued. Only sample copies were printed.

The bills issued in 1890 and 1891 look similar but there are a few ways to tell them apart. One difference is the type and size of seal used. Another is the design of their reverse sides. 1890 bills have a rich dark green reverse while 1891 bills have a plain green and white reverse. Both versions are collector’s items although the 1890 edition is rarer and more expensive.^[9]

11974 Aluminum Cent

Copper got so costly in 1973 that the US Mint started looking into an alternative metal to use for its coins. After an extensive test, it settled for aluminum. In 1974, the US Mint transported uncut aluminum alloys from its Philadelphia mint to its Denver mint, where it was cut to shape and returned to Philadelphia for stamping.

The Denver mint was not supposed to stamp any coin but an assistant superintendent went on to make the only 1974 aluminum cent created at the Denver mint. It is a one cent denomination and was marked “D” to show that it was made in Denver.

In 1974, the Philadelphia mint stamped about 1.5 million aluminum coins and shared some samples among members of the Congress. However, Congress refused to authorize the aluminum coins for several reasons including the fact that a representative of the vending industry claimed that aluminum coins would not work with their machines.

The US Mint melted the aluminum coins, but at least fifteen remain unaccounted for to date. These unaccounted coins are part of those held by Congressmen who did not return their sample coins. As for the illegally made “D” coin, Harry Edmond Lawrence, the son of the assistant superintendent, returned it to the US Mint after the death of his father.^[10]

Saving money is the hot word at the moment as the world economy gulps for air. Here I give tips on how you could save thousands by making a few changes to your home and lifestyle. The items are listed in no particular order, and the amounts I personally saved by trying these tips is listed at the end of each segment. Enjoy!

Holidays are often seen as a necessity, but luxury holidays can work out more expensive than they are worth. Traveling to other countries for your holiday can be full of hidden costs, such as airport taxes, insurance, and even the price of a passport, so one thing to consider is just how far do you need to go for have a few weeks of fun?? At the bottom end of the scale, camping holidays can be enjoyed for the price of a tent and a food budget, and a well planned trip could mean you are waking in a new location every day. Similarly, consider hiring a camper or motor-home – and take a tour of the wilderness. Holidaying in foreign parts may still carry a note of prestige, but who needs prestige when you’re broke? Average yearly saving (£): Over £2,000 ($3,000).

Buying ‘New’ costs more, and even more so when considering buying cars. A car can lose up to 50% of its worth in just 12 months, so the second-hand car market is ripe with good quality almost-new vehicles. At the bottom end of the market, a good car may cost as little as £1,000 and could be just as comfortable, reliable and economical as a brand new equivalent. The second-hand hard goods market is also awash with good quality gear. Online auction sites are by far the best places to buy gifts and gadgets at a fraction of the cost of their retail counterparts. For example, a one-week-old computer processor was found for just £90 on EBay – saving £60 – £80 on the price of a brand new one. Charity shops can be gold mines for clothing, drapes, toys and dvds, and because charity shops almost always insist on goods being of the best order, whole outfits can be bought for next to nothing. Average yearly saving by not buying new (£): Unlimited.

Many items have a higher price tag even though they may be carbon copies of other brands; simply because they have a popular label. Many motor manufacturers rebrand imported products to sell the same thing for a higher price. Many clothing manufacturers do the same. So if you can swallow your vanity and shift the ego, there really is no need to wear a label in order to look smart. If you must do, why not just buy a box of sew-on labels and do it yourself! On the shopping front, you may have to ask why you always buy Pepsi when multipak cola feeds the same need for less? Ok, so it might taste better, but it also costs… Again, if you must be suckered into wearing named brands, there are many places which sell the same things for less; and charity shops always have a nice selection of pristine labels on offer. Average yearly saving (£): £250 ($380).

The second most expensive single item on this list is a wedding. Weddings happen to most people, and most have to save for years to get what they want. However, there are always alternatives. One way would be to organize your own wedding using one of the many priests in your area. For example, I asked a Shaman to marry myself and my wife-to-be in a special clearing by a river; I created my own vows; and the whole thing came to under £400. There are many people willing to marry folks for the fraction of the price of a church service, and getting married on a beach, or in a forest – or having a themed wedding – may prove much more memorable and special. Collective saving over a church wedding (£): Over £2,000 ($3,000).

Perhaps the most controversial item on this list is the Rent vs Mortgage argument. In a lot of cases, renting can be as low cost as getting a mortgage and comes with a number of benefits. Firstly, you won’t owe £150,000 to be payable over 40 years! This means these debts wont be passed on to your next of kin should you die before you pay for the house. Renting means you can move to a larger or cheaper place as and when you like – or to a new area altogether. House maintenance should be taken care of by your landlord, and even some utility bills may be thrown into the price. If you fail to keep up your mortgage repayments, the banks will move pretty swiftly to boot you out, but many rental agencies or private landlords can often be paid much smaller sums in order to keep the roof over your head. Finally, if you are lucky enough to get help with your housing costs, many agencies will pay more to rented tenants than mortgaged individuals. Buying a house may still be seen as a good investment should the housing market go up in price – but at the moment it’s going down! – turning the whole thing into more of a gamble. Average lifetime saving (£): Variable.

With Gas and Electricity prices rising all the time, by far the easiest way to heat a home is to go back to the old ways – with a wood burring stove. Stoves can be bought relatively cheaply, and one will pay for itself in a couple of years. Fuel is never a problem (and often free) as long as you live near a wood yard, a coppice project, a paper mill, a saw mill, or even a dump (where wood is available by the skip load). A cheap circular saw can be bought for as little as £10, and means you can chop up tables, cabinets, dressers, and just about anything else. Sick and tired of all that junk mail? Bung it in, and make it heat your home! Endless stacks of paper products?, cereal boxes?, packaging? Recycle it the original way and save the planet. Supermarkets are also a good source of material – and are usually more than willing to see the back of banana boxes and all kinds of packaging. On top of all that, a good stove burner could be adapted into the water system of your home; so you can use it to take a bath. Stoves can also be cooked upon too!. Finally, they are great for giving a home that natural heat that helps you feel drowsy and have a good nights sleep. Average yearly saving (£): Over £140 ($210)

With the advent of the Internet, technology now allows a cheaper viewing experience. If you are lucky enough to live in an area where most of the material on TV is available online and on demand, there really is no reason to pay for TV anymore. In the UK, the cost of a TV license can be over £100 a year. With a good graphics card on your computer, you should be able to connect your TV to it; meaning ANY output from your machine can be directed to play on the big screen with the touch of a button. This also means that your television watching habits can be tailored to your own on-demand needs, and you won’t be paying for all those waste-of-time shows which clog many networks these days. Finally, with the advent of shared downloads, you can now have your favorite shows on your hard drive and play them direct – saving you buying or burning all those DVDs. Average yearly saving (£): Over £120 ($180).

Now this had to come up at some point, but this could make a HUGE difference to your expenditure over a year. By far the easiest way to budget is to type in all your outgoings and bills in monthly columns on a spreadsheet. Below these, enter whatever income you have – and then take the outgoings amount away from your combined income. Hay presto! Your disposable income pops up at the bottom. Budgeting a whole year in advance can show you what shape your bank account will be in during the months to come; helping you save more if things look tight, or to afford those little luxuries without fear of going into the red. A budget can also help you as you tinker with the figures – shaving money off here and there – allowing you to maximize whatever money you have available to you. Average yearly saving (£): Unlimited.

On several occasion I have house-shared as a means of cutting the house-hold bills in half. A paying guest can ‘lodge’ for any price you set – and many are happy to pay as much as you would pay to rent the house on your own. Similarly, many are willing to split the rent and the bills; resulting in a very much less expensive way to live. Of course, house sharing does have a few drawbacks; such as privacy;
but at the end of the day it’s up to you whether you want to keep them or to send them on their way. House mates can also be very good company, very good partners on a night out, may be great (free) babysitters, and may be a convenient way to car share. Average yearly saving from a house-share (£): £3800 ($5,800).

In some parts of the world, water bills are calculated on the average usage in your community, or at least on your block. That is fine if you use as much as everyone else; but not so good if you live on your own or prefer to smell nasty from not taking baths! For singles or students then, having a water meter installed could save you a small fortune as it means you will only pay for what you use. So, by not washing the car, or by doing the dishes in a bowl rather than in a dish-washer, or taking showers instead of baths – you can save on your usual water bill. For quite a few household jobs – such as watering the garden and washing the car – the water you need comes from the sky – for FREE – and is worth collecting if you have a water meter. Average yearly saving (£): Over £120 ($180).

Running a car can be a very expensive business, so fuel economy can be an easy way to save those extra penny’s. First of all, keeping your car in shape is by far the quickest way to start saving. For example: ensuring the tires are inflated to the correct PSI and have plenty of rubber, changing the air and oil filters, removing excess weight, and driving carefully; can mean your fuel can last at least 10-20 MPG longer. Race starts, revving the engine, and driving over 70MPH (112kph) uses up fuel quickly, and could only result in saving you minutes at the other end. The best speed for fuel economy is 56MPH (90kph). Buying a diesel or a car with good fuel economy (over 50mpg) is also a big consideration, and could cut the average fuel bill by half over a year. Car sharing is great as it means you are sharing the cost of driving between you, and if you alternate between each others cars it could mean you are traveling half as often in your own car. Small journeys eat into your fuel reserve more than long ones because of the time it takes the car to warm up. If you reach your destination before the ‘choke’ switches off you will have used an extra 10% of fuel in your journey. For this reason, it is better to shop around all in one day rather than popping into town every day for little bits. If you can, walk. Walking is free, and every trip saved is an extra trip you can make on the same tank of gas. Average yearly saving (£): Over £100 ($150).

Now this might sound obvious, but eating take-outs can be far more expensive than eating your own home cooked meals. Take-outs; although often very tasty; can contain materials which actively make you hungrier or thirstier – causing you to consume more as a result. Ordering out for food or going out for meals can really make a big difference to a shopping budget, and can turn one of life’s greatest luxuries into a taken-for-granted habit. Saving take-outs for special days (i.e. Saturdays) and special occasions can make the experience even more exciting, even more sumptuous, and a whole lot cheaper. Average yearly saving by eating less take-outs (£): Over £120 ($180).

If saving on food is a little beyond your comfort zone then this next classic will have you screaming. With the credit crunch propaganda infiltrating the airwaves of late, many are left wondering how they will afford the basic household bills. One way is simply to economize on life’s luxuries – and by far the most common (and most expensive) luxuries are those concerning cigarettes and alcohol. For example, if you were to smoke 20 cigarettes a day, your yearly expenditure may average around £1800 ($2,800). If you were to cut down from 20 cigarettes a day to 10, this would go down to £900 ($1,400, a saving of £900 a year – or x30 fuel bills!). 7 cigarettes a day, and the cost goes down to around £550 ($850) a year; quit smoking and you could save the full £1800 ($2,800). Alcohol is very similar in that a single night out may cost anywhere between £20 and £60; so by going out just once a week less often; you could save between £960 (1,470) and £2880 ($4,400) over a year. Average yearly saving after quitting drinking and smoking (£): Over £6,660.

There are many ways to cut the shopping budget down to size. For starters, choose your shops carefully. If it can be ordered and delivered cheaper online (i.e. hard goods, media), this could save up to 50% on retail prices. As far as food goes, one supermarkets’ prices may not be too unlike anothers’, but there can be huge saving to be made if you are willing to shop around for the basic items. Convenience stores often hike their prices thinking that consumers will shop there anyway and swallow the difference. Milk, for example, may be a third more expensive at your local shop or gas station than it may be at a superstore. Over the year, these expenses mount up. However, if the price of a cheaper loaf of bread would cost you more in gas money to drive over and pick one up, then this would be false economy in that it would cost more overall for the same result. Average yearly saving (£): Over £480 ($).

Finally, why not maximize your income by eating healthily! Contrary to what you may think, eating veggie is very VERY cheap, and a full weeks worth of food may cost from as little as £10 ($15) a head. By far the cheapest way to have the best quality vegetables for your pot would be to grow your own. For the price of a packet of seeds (or a few carrot tops and sprouting potatoes) you can grow and rotate your stocks to provide an endless free supply of basic foods. A good steamer unit, an oven, and a magimix (for soups) will also save hours of gas or electricity bills as neither of these use too much juice to run. Eating veggie doesn’t necessarily mean avoiding meat – that’s up to you – you don’t have to be a vegetarian to eat veggie! Meat, fish and chicken can be used as you like, along with eggs, cheese, sauces, pickles and spices. The point is to avoid shopping for pre-packaged foods; in whatever variety they come; and simply eat fresh. Aside from fresh being far less expensive (even totally free!), fresh also contains far less additives, comes with far less packaging, and is FAR more beneficial for the mind and body. Average yearly saving by growing your own veggies (£): £900 ($1,400) per head.

Summary: So there you have it. If you invest in a good budget and a wood burning stove to heat and cook on, get a suitable house mate, cut down or cut out the cigs, booze and the take-outs, get a water meter, don’t pay for TV, and grow and eat veggie – you could save a fortune. I did all the above, and although I didn’t sacrifice too much of my social life I still managed to save… £12,700 year-on-year ($19,500).