What question would you ask?

What is the real reason our largest note is currently $100, when the country use to have much larger denominations. Seems logical that inflation would lead to the addition, not subtraction, of higher denominations.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

My parents met in Canada. I love "Corner Gas" so much I have a couple of Brent's smocks I occasionally wear to work. I'm going to give a nice gift to the first customer who recognizes it.

This is my favorite Canadian coin. It has a great history.

 

The reason the hundred is the highest denomination note the government actively circulates is because 100 $10,000 notes fit in a pocket, 1000 $1000 notes fit into bank bag but 10,000 $100 notes require a briefcase.

 

There's a few new spinoffs of Corner Gas starting this season. Same actors, different roles.

I love the early regal golds.

 

OK? So they want it to be difficult to carry large sums of money.

 

Yep, that's pretty much it. Britain just forbade foreign exchange companies from regularly stocking 500 euro notes, after concluding the demand for them was almost wholly from criminals.

 

The reason is lack of demand for anything larger. There used to be a real purpose for the likes of $10,000 notes--banks needed them to transfer large balances around. Once we established a nationwide check-clearing system (and later wire transfers, electronic payments, &c.) there just wasn't much call for high-denomination currency any more.

The last printing of $500+ notes was in the mid-'40s. The Federal Reserve continued to circulate them whenever they were requested; it just didn't happen often. It took almost 25 years, until 1969, for enough notes to wear out that the supply of $500's finally ran low. At that point, the Treasury and Fed jointly decided that, with demand so tiny, it wasn't worth the trouble of creating updated designs for a Series 1969 $500 in order to print up a new supply. Instead, they just announced that denominations over $100 would no longer be issued.

Some years later, in the '80s, there was a proposal in Congress to discontinue production of the $100 note, because of worries that it was being heavily used in money-laundering. The idea obviously didn't become reality, but it was discussed a lot at the time. That's probably the reason why many people now seem to believe that concerns about crime were what killed the $500 and up.

 

Well. It's true that $500 notes on hand were beginning to run a bit low officially. But everybody knew that lots of banks kept big notes aside to fulfill their minimum cash-on-hand requirements without taking up much room in the vault, so if the Fed shook the $500 tree, lots of leaves would have fallen.

The real reason was the Nixon administration's decision to attack the drug trade on a basic logistical level, by making transportation of large amounts of money more detectable.

 

Numbers ,I knew that obsoletes were in 4 notes per sheets,didn't know that Large Size FRN were also 4 per sheet,thanks for clearing that up.So I assume that 3 more are out there in someones collection.

 

I can't find the other where I'm holding it but here is it in the case with an Uncut sheet of 10k and 100k's...quite a site!

 

Duke...I'm drooling on my keyboard !

 

That is one of the greatest pictures I have ever seen in my life!!

 

very awesome

 

Hi Everyone!

I think I'd ask if there was any thought to issuing any commemorative banknotes. Then after they tell me no, I'd ask them why not?

I think issuing commemoatives might be an interesting option for collectors, and as a revenue generator ... as long as they don't overdo it. I can just see every 4th grade class trying to make a design for 'next years notes' ... but a nice commemorative note based on an aspect of American history would be nice.

 

You've got to remember how much of a pain it'd be to enable changing currency designs to be accepted in the Fed/banking/vending system. Coin designs can be changed freely, because coins are recognized by their size, shape, and composition. But currency is recognized by its design, which means that all sorts of automated currency-handling devices have to be reprogrammed every time there's a design change. (This is why the $1 note has still not been redesigned at all--the number of vending machines &c. that take $1's is far larger than the number that take $5's and up, and it's just not worth the huge amount of reprogramming/replacement that'd be needed if the $1 ever changed.)

Occasional currency redesigns to keep ahead of counterfeiters have proven to be a necessary evil, but a commemorative design would be horridly cost-ineffective (never mind a *series* of commemorative designs!).

On top of that, it's a lot more expensive to create a currency design in the first place than it is to create a coin design. Sculpting a coin design is something that plenty of artists can do, and it doesn't take all that many hours. Engraving a banknote design into a block of steel requires a much less common skill, and it's a far more laborious process too.

Whatever profit could potentially be made by selling commemorative notes to collectors at a premium, wouldn't begin to cover the costs of creating the design and modifying all of the Fed's currency-processing equipment to recognize it--let alone the costs to private businesses like banks and vending machine operators to modify *their* equipment. The idea's just a non-starter....

 

Numbers, I thought thats what the magnetic ink was all about. I didn't know the machines recognized anything but the mag ink.

 

Well, back to the original question, I would ask for a tour of the vaults containing the original printing plates. Of course, the likely answer would be "no."

The other question I'd ask is an explanation of the 1915 Panama-California Expo mystery die. Back in 2005 this printing plate showed up on eBay for a few days then abruptly was removed without explanation. I checked with the seller who said the Secret Service showed up at her door and confiscated it as stolen government property. I'd ask the BEP what became of it in the first place and now that it's back, would they consider printing up some souvenir cards?

 

Yes the 1915 Panama-California Expo mystery die. Back in 2005 this printing plate showed up on eBay
I would love to see that on a souvenir card ,great question !
Nice picture of the plate & engraving .
bob


: http://www.cointalk.com/t114221-3/#post930732#ixzz0sGA9AcQX

 

That would fit my collection very nicely