Treasury Notes

While in Amsterdam a comment was made about the size of the big Euro bills and how all the bodegas and touristy shops have signs in their windows saying they do not accept $200 or $500 Euro notes. The big Euro denominations lead to Tim and I getting into a disagreement over whether or not denominations larger than $100 were still being printed and used in the US.

We both acknowledged that denominations greater than $100 were printed and used as Federal Reserve notes at some time in the past but we disagreed on whether or not they were still being used. My position was that they stopped printing the bigger denominations a long time ago and these bills are not in circulation or used in any capacity anymore. Tim thought that they were still being used to transfer money for bank-to-bank and for federal reserve transfers.

I completely forgot about this whole thing until I came across a post today on boingboing about a gallery of the high denomination bills by the Treasury Department and it reminded me of our Amsterdam conversation.

Along with pics of the notes they have a couple paragraphs on the history of the big bills.

Currency notes of denominations above $100 are not available from the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve System, or the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. On July 14, 1969, the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve System announced that currency notes in denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 would be discontinued immediately due to lack of use. Although they were issued until 1969, they were last printed in 1945.

These notes are legal tender and may be found in circulation today; however, most notes still in circulation are probably in the hands of private numismatic dealers and collectors.

Too bad I can't remember if we put any small bills on the matter!

Filed in: interesting currency cashmoney