50 Fascinating Facts About Dollar Bills

1. Larger bills ($50, $100) can last in circulation up to 8 years

2. The average life of a dollar bill is just 18 months

3. 97% of all paper money contains traces of cocaine

4. Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer, is said to use $2 notes from sheets of bills
purchased from the U.S. Treasury – he apparently has them bound into book form with the bills as tear-off "pages"

5. The number 172 can be seen on the back of the U.S. $5 dollar bill in the bushes at the base of the Lincoln Memorial

6. $20 bills last in circulation for approximately 2 years

7. $5 bills last in circulation for around 15 months

8. In 1960, the Federal Reserve had $177.41 in cash circulating for every person living in the US. In 1990, that amount increased to $1,062.86 per capita

9. The security thread and micro printing found in most currency today were first used in 1990 in the $50 and $100 bills

10. In 1865, the Department of the Treasury issued Gold Certificates, which were backed by gold and bullion deposits. These certificates stayed in circulation until 1933

11. On the $1 bill the Latin above the pyramid, ANNUIT COEPTIS, means "God has favored our undertaking”

12. The Latin below the pyramid on the $1 bill, NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM, means "a new order for the ages”

13. At the base of the pyramid on the $1 bill you will find “1776” in Roman Numerals

14. On the $1 bill, you can see an owl in the upper left-hand corner of the "1" encased in the "shield," while a spider is hidden in the front upper right-hand corner

15. On the new $100 bill, the clock tower of Independence Hall in Philadelphia is shown with the time set at 4:10. According to the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing, “there are no records explaining why that particular time was chosen”

16. In 1929, US currency was standardized to include portraits on the front and emblems and monuments on the back of all bills.

17. The first paper notes were printed in denominations of 1 cent, 5 cents, 25 cents, and 50 cents. The government first issued paper currency in 1862 to finance the Civil War and to make up for a shortage of coins stemming from the fact that people hoarded gold and silver coins to achieve a sense of financial security

18. Almost half, 48 percent, of the notes printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing are $1 notes

19. Present currency measures 2.61 inches wide by 6.14 inches long, and the thickness is 0.0043 inches. Larger sized notes in circulation before 1929 measured 3.125 inches by 7.4218 inches

20. Martha Washington is the only woman whose portrait has appeared on a U.S. currency note. It appeared on the face of the $1 Silver Certificate of 1886 and 1891, along with the back of the $1 Silver Certificate issued in 1896

21. If you had $10 billion and spent $1 every second of every day, it would take 317 years for you to go broke

22. The $20 bill is sometimes called a "double-sawbuck”

23. The elm tree on back of the $20 bill near the White House represents a real tree in this same location. However, the tree is no longer on the White House grounds because it succumbed to rain-softened ground in 2006

24. While he appears on the $20 bill, Andrew Jackson actually preferred coins to paper currency
25. There are no pictures of African-Americans printed on US currency, though five African Americans have had their signatures on currency (as Registers of the Treasury and Treasurer of the United States)

26. In 1963, the $2 bill and the Federal Reserve Note were changed by adding the motto “IN GOD WE TRUST” to the reverse and removing “WILL PAY TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND” from the front. Also, the obligation on the Federal Reserve Note was changed to its current wording: “THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE”

27. The $2 bill was last issued in 2003

28. You'd need to fold a bill of any denomination about 8,000 times (first forward and then backwards) before it will tear

29. Most people save $2 bills, thinking they are rare and therefore valuable; they're actually worth... $2

30. Apparently, enough people go to banks and other businesses to find $2 bills that there’s a name for it: Tom Crawl

31. The number 13 (corresponding to the 13 colonies) figures prominently on the $1 bill. The number of letters/digits in 1776 (4) and its Roman Numeral equivalent MDCCLXXVI (9) adds up to 13

32. The dollar has 13 stars above the eagle

33. There are 13 steps on the Pyramid

34. There are 13 letters in ANNUIT COEPTIS

35. E PLURIBUS UNUM contains 13 letters

36. There are 13 vertical bars on the shield

37. The top of the shield has 13 horizontal stripes

38. You can count 13 leaves on the olive branch

39. There are 13 berries on the olive branch

40. The dollar bill also features 13 arrows and 13 hats

41. The Secretary of the Treasury usually selects the designs shown on US currency, unless
otherwise specified by an Act of Congress

42. A world record of $2,255,000 was paid in December 2006 for an 1890 $1000 United States
Treasury note. The note features a portrait of Civil War-era General George Gordon Meade, who commanded Union Army troops at the Battle of Gettysburg

43. Pocahontas appeared on the back of the $20 bill in 1875

44. Money isn't made out of paper, it's actually made out of linen

45. A fifty dollar bill is often called a Grant because it features a portrait of Ulysses S. Grant

46. A $100 bill has many nicknames: C-note, Hundo, Hunksy, Franklin, Ben, Benjy, Benny, Big
one, and my favorite: 100 bones

47. High-denomination bills ($500-$100,000 notes) are technically legal tender, but were last printed in 1945 and officially discontinued on Jul 14, 1969 by the Federal Reserve System

48. President Richard Nixon halted the circulation of these high-denomination bills in 1969 by Executive Order, in an effort to fight organized crime

49. The security thread in bills $5 and higher will turn blue if they are held under ultraviolet light

50. The $1 bill’s famous nickname of “Greenback” derives from the Demand Note dollars created by Abraham Lincoln in the late 1800s to finance the Civil War. These notes were printed in black and green on the back side