MILLION DOLLAR ARTICLE
10 Fun Facts about American Currency
Image: Jp Valery
We bet you have never stopped to think about the dollar bills and coins you carry in your pocket, even if you do use them every day. The U.S. currency has purchasing power, of course, but it is also full of interesting facts and quirky details that are a testimony of the nation’s culture, history, and values.
Do you know how many folds it takes for a U.S. bill to tear? Do you know what the bills are made of? In this article, we’ll go through some of the most interesting facts about the history of our money. Read on and find them out!
1
Money Materials
Image: Jorge Salvador
We call them paper bills, but do they undergo the same process as any other paper? Naturally, they don’t. U.S. bills are mainly made of two materials: 75% of their composition is cotton and the 25% left is linen. Besides, they have randomly disbursed red and blue security fibers embedded in the paper.
This special blend is made by only one company in America and that is Crane & Co . The company, based in Massachusetts patented this special blend and it has been the sole provider of paper for currency since 1879.
2
Origin of the U.S. dollar symbol
Image: Paris Bilal
The dollar sign is a matter of debate. One line or two across a capital S, the symbol is today a worldwide sign for money, but where does it come from?
Even if there are several theories as to where the U.S. dollar symbol comes from, all of them agree that it was derived from the Spanish peso . When the time came, and the new nation needed its own currency, the basis was that of the Spanish coinage, which was the most common currency in the colonies before the country’s independence.
The adoption of the sign was made official in 1785, and today, the United States is not the only country that uses this symbol, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand do too!
3
Who appears on the bills?
Image: AR
Having your face forever stamped on the little piece of paper that rules the world should be a milestone in your career, right? However, there were certain rules as to who qualifies to be granted this honor .
Probably, the most surprising, yet the most logical one is that no living person can be portrayed in American currency. Since the Founding Fathers considered it unpatriotic to be portrayed while alive, this was first a tradition and then made official in an Act of Congress in 1866 .
However, contrary to popular belief, this honor is not only reserved for presidents! Anyone who contributes to the nation can be portrayed.
4
Folding Papers
Image: Emilio Takas
Bills come and go all the time. We take them out of our pockets and put them in our purses only to take them out again a few hours later and give them to the shop assistant. For a life that busy, we can only hope the paper is tough enough , right?
Well, as a matter of fact, it is. Compared to regular paper, which can only be folded 400 times before it breaks, money paper can be folded up to 8,000 times before it breaks .
It's not that you’re going to try it out and see, but you can rest assured: Fold your bills away, they can handle it!
5
Damaged Goods
Image: Jp Valery
Even if they can be folded that many times, the life of bills is limited, not to mention accidents happen. Who hasn’t sent a bill to the washing machine by chance?
So, what happens when a bill is damaged? Well, at least 50% of it has to be clearly identifiable for the bank to replace it , otherwise, you’ll just lose your money. You don’t feel like folding them much now, right?
On the other hand, and mainly due to time damage, at least 70% of the new bills are used to replace old bills . These bills, once taken out of circulation are shredded and sent to companies that can recycle them!
6
Security Features
Image: Colin Watts
Counterfeiting has been a problem ever since paper money was created and statistics about which countries counterfeited most of the money are simply shocking. But we won’t get into that.
What we will say is that thanks to technological advancement, the U.S. bill is getting harder and harder to counterfeit. In modern bills, there are at least six security features which are: UV security ribbon, raised printing, microprinting, 3D security ribbon, color-shifting ink, and traditional watermarks. Do you pay attention to them?
7
U.S. Coins
Image: Kenny Eliason
Coin production in America is in charge of the U.S. Mint and there are four production facilities across the country. They are located in Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, and West Point.
It is estimated that every year the Mint produces about 16 trillion coins which are valued at over $1.09 billion dollars. What is truly impressive is that Americans throw away an estimated 62 million dollars worth of coins every day!
They may not be worth much alone but don’t throw them away, all of them together can make you rich!
8
Green Ink
Image: maria pagan
Have you ever wondered why the U.S. dollar bills were green? It is not about design or aesthetics, even if we think they look pretty.
The decision to use green ink was a matter of security, in order to prevent counterfeiting. Back then, black and white ink made it easier to create photographic fakes. For that reason, green was the color of choice, and, when paper money was standardized in 1929, it had great acceptance due to the positive connotations of the color . Do you like it?
9
Andrew Jackson’s Take on Paper Money
Image: Elsa Olofsson
Every denomination has an important figure stamped on the front. In the case of the 20-dollar bill, Andrew Jackson was the chosen one.
Jackson was the seventh president of the United States and, even if it is not a rule that only presidents can be portrayed, his contributions gained him this honor.
Ironically, Jackson was not in favor of using paper money. For him, only gold and silver coins should have remained legal tender. After learning this, one can only assume he wouldn’t be so happy to be the face of the 20-dollar bill, right?
10
Facelifts and redesigns
Image: Kenny Eliason
One of the ways of keeping paper money safe and hard to counterfeit is by giving the bills new designs.
New faces were expected to appear in future bills, but, in the meantime, the changes always had to do with the proportions of the elements within each denomination. Bigger faces, rearrangement of the signatures, stuff like that.
Now, these changes and facelifts haven’t reached all the bills. 1-dollar bills haven’t been changed or redesigned ever since 1929. Why is that? Because it is not worth the trouble for criminals to counterfeit. One dollar won’t take them too far!
