US Paper Money Novelty Note - Obama on US Banknote

Just a fun banknote item with Barack Obama on the face of US Money. If he makes it this will definitely be a first, helps us see reality of what Americans are doing and how different it is from the norm. Though I must say that a lot of fuss has been made about Obama being black, but is he really truly just black?

To start with what am I? I am a black woman with dual nationality, born or African parents in Europe over 40 years ago. Luckily for me I've lived in both continents and do not have a nationality crisis. I therefore feel that I can at least use this opportunity to voice my opinion about this great shift in American politics.

Its great that America can consider a woman or a black man for the number one job in America. Yet there are fundamental problems with this progression.My reservation stems from the fact that a person of dual race heritage in US is always considered black, when it is a white and black issue by both sides of the coin?

My take on this issue is be careful all of you open your eyes wide before you vote!!Anyway the novelty note looks great find up more...

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12 Federal Reserve Banks: How Many Issue Banknotes?

I learnt something new today amongst other things. Really I thought there was one Federal Reserve Bank in the US, but today I found out that there are actually 12 Federal Reserve Banks. Each have identifying items that distinguish them on the banknotes they issue.

The paper money issued in the United States presently are all federal reserve notes. Here is a list of the federal reserve banks and their distinguishing numbers and letters actually found on the bank notes.

1 A Boston
2 B New York
2 C Philadelphia
4 D Cleveland
5 E Richmond
6 F Atlanta
7 G Chicago
8 H St Luis
9 I Minneapolis
10 J Kansas City
11 K Texas
12 L San Francisco

Paper Money Collecting: The US 100,000 Dollar Banknote

For the record there is a $100,000 US Banknote. It may not be in circulation or in print but it is still considered legal tender, thought it was never used as a note in circulation even when it was released. These were notes used within the banking system to transfer large amounts of funds to the Federal reserve. No bank is interested in using this system as the IT opportunities out there make it so much more easier to transfer money electronically.

Woodrow Wilson (1856 - 1924) graces the face of the 100,000 dollar note, a controversial character if I had ever meet one. He was the 28th President of the United States of America. He is remembered for a lot of things, including The Revenue Act, Federal Reserve Act, The Espionage Act and The Sedition Act.



The things he did that stand out for me is not the fact that he was the first American President to visit the Pope while in office nor is it to do with his contribution to Americas foreign policy over the decades even right now his way of thinking is still present.

For me Woodrow is probably one of the great men on Paper Money that I have a problem with since he was in support of segregation and ended up sending a lot of black workers out of jobs with the government over racial grounds.

Anyway the US $100,00 note is a collector's item if you have got one. Mark my wood its a gem.

12 Types of US Paper Money Banknotes - Part 2

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Ok so from the previous article 12 Types of US Paper Money Banknotes - Part1 it was obvious that the US had much more to offer than just the now famous US dollar notes. So what other goodies do they have in the basket?

7. Fractional Currency:
These were small value currency notes issued by the government during and after the American Civil War until 1876, due to the hoarding of gold, silver and other precious metals. The notes were redeemable at the US Post office for their face value of US postal stamps. These notes were issued in denominations of 3, 5, 10,15, 25, 5o cents.



8. The Refunding Certificate
The refunding certificates were a form of interest bearing notes issued by the United States government,in denominations of $10 only, it marks the end of coin hoarding and the reemergence of public confidence in coin money.


9. The Silver Certificate
These were paper currency issued by the government of the United States of America, in various US$ denominations, which matched the value of silver, and was redeemable for the same. The earlier issues of silver certificates had their seal and serial numbers in red, brown and blue, but for the 1899 series of $1,$2, and $5 they were permanently printed in blue. The redemption of silver certificates was halted in 1964 due to the rising value of silver which meant that the silver coin was more valuable than the paper money currency.



10. The National Bank Notes
These were the notes known as the "hometown" paper currency, banknotes issued by banks chartered by the United States government, backed by United States bonds deposited by the banks to the United States Treasury. They are similar to the Federal Reserve Notes except that it has the name of the issuing bank, town and state on the note and is signed by the banks president and cashier. They were retired as a currency type by the government in 1930 during the great depression, but have become a favorite collectors item.

11. The United States Notes
These are the among the first notes issued as legal tender under 1862 Legal Tender Act. The United States Notes were issued directly by the United States Department of the Treasury rather than by the Federal Reserve, it is a bill of credit issued to stimulate the economy and one of the appealing aspects of this type of note was that the government did not have to pay any interest on the notes, which was the case with the Federal reserve notes.
These bills were issued in denominations of $1,$2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, $1000, $1000, $5ooo, $10,000.



12. The Federal Reserve Notes
This was another United States banknote issued by individual Federal Reserve Banks they were fashioned after the National bank notes and issued as Large notes in 1914 and as small notes in 1933. The small notes were issued for a specific purpose and were in use for only 2 years, as a lot of National banks were failing the public started hoarding cash, once people started to build confidence in paper money the money was withdrawn.

These notes and the previous 6 US Paper Money Banknotes make US currency an interesting collection.

12 Types of US Paper Money Banknotes - Part 1

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Did you know that there are 12 different types of US paper money banknotes issued at different stages of the country's history? Well I didn't! I knew about Fractional Notes, Large Notes, Confederacy Notes and the Federal Reserve notes, but now I'm learning that even some of these do not fully encompass what was or were the notes that American's have had in circulation through the ages.

Here in a nutshell are the different banknotes that have been issued as currency in the United States of America.

1. The Colonial Scrip this was a pre -revolutionary paper based money, which soon depreciated rapidly, and was used to fund the war. It was no longer issued from 1775.

2. The Demand Note this is a type of paper money issued between 1861 and 1862 during the American Civil War, in denominations of $5, $10 and $20. These notes were redeemable on demand for gold coins and were the first paper money notes issued by the United States federal government to gain wide circulation.



3. The Compound Interest Treasury Notes were issued in 1863 to 1864 in denominations of $10 and $50, they were to mature in 3 years and then redeemable at 6% interest.



4. The Interest Bearing Notes were issued in !861. They were $50 notes which paid a cent of interest a day and originally not meant to be circulated.

5. The National Gold Bank Notes were first issued by the United States government in July 1870, they were redeemable by the issuing bank in gold coin. These paper money notes were the fore runners of the National Bank Notes and Gold Certificates which came a bit later.

6.The Gold Certificate is a paper note held by gold owners instead of keeping the actual gold. Thus historically the certificate served as a form of US circulating paper money between 1882 and 1933 but today it is used as a proof of investing in gold.

I GREW HEMP:Have you got any rubberstamped money?

Money is quite fascinating, what with its varied design and the national interests of hundreds of nations to study. And yet it is very obvious that a small percentage of the populace has figured out that paper currency is a very powerful tool for sending messages out to the wider public.

What else would make interesting rubber stamps on our paper notes? The name of our favorite American Idol contestant, or even still which political candidate we would want to win the race in 2008! Any other suggestions?

Check out this collection of rubber stamped money, have you got any?

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US Paper Money, Gold , and The Credit Crunch

At the moment the world economic and financial disasters make it impossible for me not to make consistent inferences about the relationship of paper money and world economy.

My friends are amazed at the amount of knowledge that I have gained in the past five months since I started collecting and learning about world paper currencies.

Gold was a valuable currency, paper money on the other hand isn't. Instead paper money's value depends on the trust and confidence the society has in the issuing body, which is usually the state government. Why we trust the governments though is a mystery when you consider that the government of the UK decided to sell off its gold reserves when gold's price was plumenting and got to an all time low of $260 per ounce. Well its current value even with the credit crunch is over $900!

The problem is state governments usually get it wrong, more paper money is issued and circulated than should be which leads to inflation. No world government could redem their paper money in gold, silver or any other precious metal. So our economies are based on a lie anyway,
So here is my take on the economies of our society and how to co-exist with the continuous mismanagement of the economy.

• Don't spend more than you have coming in.
  
• Don't buy on credit/credit cards if you can't afford to pay back the money in a couple of months.
• Don't get a mortgage on a house way beyond your means, in the hope that things will get better, because if they don't you'll be out of a house and on the streets.
• Do look for ways to augment your income, so that the current credit crunch will not get the better of you.

The value of the dollar is in such an unstable state that apart from the interest rate cuts, the rouge trader who lost $7 billion and the vast sell-offs witnessed this week on the stock markets, we also have a model who is insisting that she doesn't want to be paid in US dollars.

New Colors of U.S. Paper Money

For as long as all of us can remember, theUS dollar has been synonymous with the color green. But as of 2004 the US government has been redesigning our paper money and adding splashes color. The new $5 bill was just introduced and might be considered the most colorful piece of US currency ever produced.


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Paper money may be going through a rough patch at the moment, as the different world economies try to adjust to the US mortgage fiasco, but one thing is sure world paper money is beautiful as a lot of the different comments and images have proved.

Paper Money Collecting: US Fractional Currency

US Fractional Currency- The Lowest Denomination of US Paper Money.

During the American Civil War (1861 -1865), there was a scarcity of gold, silver and copper coins and people started using postal stamps as a means of providing change. At this point it was not legal tender, but as it worked, except for the Post Offices dislike of redeeming stamps especially soiled ones which they totally refused to accept, neither did they like the idea of selling stamps for currency, things were soon to change around.

Salmon P Chase (1808 - 1873)

The US Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P Chase, asked for a form of postage stamp be approved as currency, and so on July 17, 1862 President Lincoln and the US Congress passed the Postage Currency Act, which approved the issue of 5, 10, 25 and 50 cent notes.
The first issue was known as Postage Stamp Currency as they were similar to the 5 and 10 cent stamps. The first issues were never legal tender but could be used as a means of exchange for lots of $5 notes. In 1863 Salmon Chased asked for the issue of a new currency that was much more difficult to counterfeit than the postage stamps.
The new fractional currency notes were colorful items back printed side. These fractional currencies ran until 1876.



The 3 cent fractional currency note is the lowest paper money note ever issued in the United States of America.

Paper Money Collecting: US Paper Money Online Price Guide

New Online Price Guide of US Paper Currency

If you are interested in US paper money then this is probably very exciting news for you. Krause Publications, has added a new US Paper Money Price Guide to their collection of World Coin guides that they have available at NumisMaster, their online site dedicated to the needs of numismatic collectors.

What makes this unique and novel is that a collector will have current prices right before them at anytime. We all know that prices have changed a lot and continue to do so in the last couple of months. Coin and Paper Money collection is going through a big money phase so its important that collectors and investors can get their hands on current prices. The Online Paper Money Guide provides this with a simple click of the mouse and of course a minimal subscription of $7.95 for a monthly subscription or $39.95 yearly.

This guide includes all non-coin issues of United States currency etc, such as stamps, gold and silver certificates, military notes, error notes, confederacy notes to name a few: all the photographs, listings and prices contained in the Standard Catalogue of United States Paper Money are included in this guide.

To subscribe to this online guide you can go to Online Paper Money Guide and register, after registration, which is free, you will then be able to get access to the subscription page.



The Paper Money History Series

This series will continue shortly, it just seems to be a topic that gets deeper and more detailed as the days go by, and consequently quite a number of other interesting events and issues I would have liked to have mentioned have been left unmentioned. I have therefore decided to alternate between the two on weekly basis. So this week we will be talking about general issues and then next week it will be Paper Money History topics and then the following one will concentrate again on general issues to do with paper money. I hope this will be of better benefit to you as it will be for me.

A Paper Money First - New US $5 banknote unveiled on-line

The new US $5 bill was unveiled for the very first time in a very unique way on 20th September 2007. For the very first time Paper Money was unveiled live online. Here is a video of the presentation from the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing.



Previously the $10,$20 and $50 notes had been redesigned and their unveiling was not an online presentation. This was an entirely digital event, which took place as a "Wii-5" preview on www.moneyfactory.gov there is also an online Question and Answer session for Reporters and Podcasts featuring important information about the new $5 bills.

The new $5 bill is smarter, safer and more secure according to The Bureau of Engraving and Printing and really anything a government can do to make its paper money more safe and secure is more than welcome. Counterfeiters are always trying to improve their game a government that does not stay a couple of steps ahead of them will find that they have more counterfeits in circulation than real genuine currency. The changes and redesign of the $5 bill will make it much more difficult for these $5 notes be changed into $100 notes as was the previous practice.

The new note features two watermarks: on the right of Lincoln's portrait is a large "5" and on the left is a column of three smaller "5"s The embedded security tread is located on the right of the portrait, runs vertically and glows blue when held under ultraviolet light. the American symbol of freedom, the eagle and the shield are featured as underprints on the front side in purple. For a more detailed presentation of the new features in the US $5 bill please visit The Bureau of Engraving and Printing and explore this beautiful site.

Paper Money: US $ Notes Celebrates 50 years of "In God We Trust"

This week marks the first 50 years of the inscription "In God We Trust" on US Paper Money. Prior to 1957 the inscription was on US coins during the Civil War. It seems though that the words meant much more to the Americans then than it does today.

This anniversary went unnoticed to a large extent.

I really wonder if it would matter at all if this inscription was removed from the back of US dollar banknotes completely.

You know the saying about wearing your heart on your sleeves, countries usually wear their hearts on their Paper Money. So does this inscription on US paper money banknotes mirror the heart of America?

More Images of Famous People on US Paper Money

During the last week we have looked at the Famous People depicted on US Paper Money, this has helped us to outline briefly historical relevance of these men. Here are a few more images of US banknotes referencing the presidents depicted on the faces of these bills.

US $20 Federal Reserve Note featuring the portrait of President Andrew Jackson



US $50 Federal Reserve Note, featuring the portrait of President Ulysses S. Grant.



US $100 Federal Reserve Note, featuring the portrait of Benjamin Franklin

So there we have it, the portraits of the great leaders of the United States of America grace the front side of the countries paper money. Therefore these banknotes have become for me little historical pieces of information for anyone who cares to notice.

Paper Money Collecting - Images Of US Presidents on US Paper Money

Paper Money Collecting has now become a daily activity in my life. When I go into a book store or library I find myself looking for books, magazines etc on the topic. I've also been learning more about taking good pictures, scans etc. as well as searching for images that I can post on the blog without infringing on copyrights.

Well the search has paid off, and now I can bring you the faces of some US Presidents whose portraits are on the front (obverse) side of different US banknotes.

I also want to say a special thank you to all the new friends I've started making in connection with my new hobby, collecting paper money, your help and support is appreciated and I will be sharing the contributions you've all made in subsequent posts.

Here are the Images I promised you, I will do this series in 2 posts.


US $1 Federal Reserve Note featuring the portrait of President George Washington.

US $2 Federal Reserve Note featuring the portrait of President Thomas Jefferson.



US $5 Federal Reserve Note featuring the portrait of President Abraham Lincoln Will be redesigned in 2008.




Second post of images on US Presidents on US paper money coming up soon.

12 Names of Famous People Depicted On US Paper Money

Paper Money Notes are beautiful works of art usually depicting famous people, animals or objects. Some collectors are known to concentrate their paper money collections on boats, birds or a famous personality eg Queen Victoria or Queen Elizabeth 1.

Here are a list of 12 famous people depicted on US currency

100000 dollar note depicts Woodrow Wilson.
10000 dollar note depicts Salmon P. Chase;
5000 dollar note depicts James Madison;
1000 dollar note depicts Grover Cleveland;
500 dollar note depicts William McKinley;
100 dollar note depicts Benjamin Franklin;
50 dollar note depicts Ulysses S. Grant;
20 dollar note depicts Andrew Jackson;
10 dollar note depicts Alexander Hamilton;
5 dollar note depicts Abraham Lincoln;
2 dollar note depicts Thomas Jefferson;
1 dollar note depicts George Washington;

Eleven of these 12 men were known as the "Dead Presidents" and became the standard portraiture on the US Currency notes by the early 20th Century.

Who Were These Famous People Depicted On US Paper Money

Who were these 12 famous men depicted on US Paper Money? In my last post I simply listed the notes and the names of these famous personalities. Today lets explore briefly who these men actually were and why they were chosen to grace the face of the banknotes.

1. 100,000 dollar note depicts Thomas Woodrow Wilson born 28th December 1856, was the twenty-eighth President of the United States and died 3rd February 1924.

2. 10,000 dollar note depicts Salmon Portland Chase - born 13 th January 1808, was an American politician who served as the U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Abraham Lincoln ; and as Chief Justice of the United States, he died 7th May 1873.

3.5,000 dollar note depicts James Madison, Jr. - born 16th March,1751, was the fourth President of the United States (1809–1817) and died 28th June 1836

4. 1,000 dollar note depicts Stephen Grover Cleveland - born 18th March 1837 – he was the twenty-second and twenty-fourth President of the United States , and the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms (1885–1889 and 1893–1897), he died 24th June 1908

5. 500 dollar note depicts William McKinley, Jr. - born 29th January 1843 he was the twenty-fifth President of the United States, he died 14th September 1901.

6.100 dollar note depicts Benjamin Franklin - born 17th January 1706, he was one of the most important founding Fathers of the United States, was the 6th President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania (1785-1788), he died 17th April 1790.

7. 50 dollar note depicts Ulysses S. Grant - born Hiram Ulysses Grant on 27th April 1822, was an American general and the eighteenth President of the United States (1869–1877), he died 23rd July 1885.

8. 20 dollar note depicts Andrew Jackson - born 15th March 1767, he was the seventh President of the United States (1829–1837), he died 8th June 1837.

9. 10 dollar note depicts Alexander Hamilton - born 11th January 1755 or 1757, he was an Army officer, lawyer,Founding Father, American politician, leading statesman, financier and political theorist. One of America's foremost constitutional lawyers, he was a leader in calling the U.S. Constitutional Convention in 1787; he was one of the two chief authors of the Federalist Papers, the most important interpretation of the United States Constitution. He died 12th July 1804.

10. 5 dollar note depicts Abraham Lincoln - born 12th February 1809, was the sixteenth President of the United States, serving from 4th March 1861 until his death on 15th April 1865.

11. 2 dollar note depicts Thomas Jefferson - born 13th April 1743, he was the third President of the United States (1801-1809), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of Republicanism in the United States, he died 4th July 1826.

12. 1 dollar note depicts George Washington- born 22nd February 1732 – he was a central and critical figure in the founding of the United States, and is commonly referred to as father of the nation, he died on 14th December 1799.

I'm actually not American, but I can now say that I'm warming up nicely to US History, and all this from looking specifically for US banknotes that depict the portraits of some specific politicians down the ages. There are several other famous men who have also been depicted on US banknotes not mentioned here, in my journey as I grow in collecting paper money I hope to come back to this topic.

Paper Money Sale - $500 Bank Note for Grabs

In case you are a paper money collector interested in US Bank Notes, please read on. I wouldn't want you to miss out on this sale without taking a look.

This 1834 $500 Bank note was the last of America's $500 bills, the highest denomination is now $100.

You never know if this will be another record find.

Visiting my link and making a purchase will mean that I make a little commission on the sale. You can obviously buy similar notes from dealers if they have them available. But I would appreciate it if you did visit the page and if you decide to buy the little commision I get will make it possible for me to continue to provide quality content on this page.

Go to this paper money collecting page to view the $500 bank note