The "Forgotten United States Currency" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Went to the grocery story and paid the bill with my credit card.  On the way home we stopped at the pharmacy and both Carol and I picked up our prescriptions at Walmart and...yep, paid the bill with our credit card.  Later in the day we made a few online purchases and paid the bill online with the credit card.  Does anyone ever pay with real money anymore?  How many times during the week do you actually pull out money from your pocket to payoff something?  How much money do you have in a drawer at home or in your wallet?  Will U.S. money soon be obsolete? Will real, physical money someday be a thing of the past?  Carol and I recently celebrated the Easter Holiday in July due to the Covid virus.  Our three grandchildren were part of the celebration and each opened a variety of colored plastic Easter eggs.  About a dozen of them were filled with $2 bills.  Remember them.  I had the $2 bills in an envelope in my dresser drawer and thought it would be a good time to get rid of them before too many people thought them to be illegal.  To most people, the standard U.S. currency bills are the $1, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100.  But there are quite a few other types of U.S. currency that you may not remember or even knew ever existed.  They are:

The Half-Cent Coin - Perhaps the reason for this is that the U.S. Mint discontinued producing the half-cent coin in 1857.  Remember that?  It did make the penny look like more money instantly, especially over 150 years ago.  Back then, penny candy may have cost only a half-cent, so that small amount was needed.  But, as prices increased, it was no longer needed, so they stopped making it.  The half-cent was first coined in 1792 and had five different designs over it's run.

The Two-Dollar Bill - The U.S. estimates that there are still about 1.2 billion in circulation today.  It is still printed when needed; usually every two to four years.  My grandchildren will probably hoard their $2 and never use them.  That will make them even more rare and when the $2 bill is no longer printed, it's value as a collector's piece may make it worth more than $2.  By the way, President Thomas Jefferson is featured on the $2.

The Five-Hundred Bill - The $500 hasn't been in circulation since 1969, but is still considered legal tender if you happen to have one.  It was first introduced in 1862 and featured over its lifetime President John Quincy Adams, President Abraham Lincoln, President William McKinley as well as William Tecumseh Sherman.  Today it is a sought-after collector's item with much more than the face value of $500.

The Three-Cent Coin - Aren't you glad we don't have the half-cent and the three-cent coin anymore.  They would make holes in your pocket so much faster.  But, there really was a reason for having the Three-Cent Coin.  It was made between 1851-1889, the same time that the U.S. had a three-cent stamp.  The coin was made of silver, which helped lead to their downfall since silver was needed during the Civil War.  It was also made of bronze, but neither coin lasted long.

The Five-Thousand Dollar Bill - It was originally created to help fund the Revolutionary War, but didn't come into official government use until 1868, when another history-altering war was raging.  It carried the image of President James Madison.  Only a few hundred remain, making them extremely valuable.

The One-Hundred-Thousand Dollar Bill - Today the highest denomination U.S. bill is the $100.  When the $100,000 bill was printed it featured the image of Woodrow Wilson on it.  Actually, it was never issued for public use or circulated into the general economy.  Only 42.000 were ever made, and they can't be held by collectors due to legal reasons, but institutions like the Smithsonian and the Museum of American Finance are allowed to exhibit them.  

Wouldn't you love to have a few of the above units of money listed above.  You can still find the $2 at your local bank, since I got $20 worth of them about a half-year ago.  Most of them are gone by now, but I sure I can use them if I ever need to.  Perhaps to buy something at the store.  But, maybe they wouldn't recognize it and not allow me to use it.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.