IT'S ALL ABOUT THE

MONEY
http://www.factslides.com/s-Money#

The Largest Banknote

Measuring in at roughly
the size of a sheet of
legal paper, the world's
largest single banknote
is the 100,000-peso
note created by the
government of the
Philippines in 1998.
Designed to celebrate
a century of
independence from
Spanish rule, the note
was offered only to
collectors, who could
purchase one of the
limited-edition notes
for 180,000 pesos, or
about $3,700.

One in a Million

The
The largest
largest banknote
banknote
ever issued by the Bank
of England was the
1,000,000 note, issued
in
in 1948
1948 as
as a
a temporary
temporary
measure
during
measure during the
the
postwar
postwar reconstruction
reconstruction in
in
the Marshall Plan.
Designed for use by the
U.S. government only,
the notes were canceled
after
after just
just a
a few
few months,
months,
allowing
very
few
allowing very few to
to
escape
escape into
into private
private
hands. But just because
the notes are out of
service doesn't mean
they're
they're valueless
valueless
in
in
2008,
2008, one
one of
of two
two known
known
surviving
surviving notes
notes fetched
fetched
almost
almost $120,000
$120,000 at
at
auction.

The World's First ATM

It
It might
might just
just be
be the
the best
best idea
idea to
to
come
come to
to a
a man
man in
in the
the bathtub
bathtub
since
since Archimedes'
Archimedes' time.
time. While
While
taking
a
soak,
inventor
taking a soak, inventor John
John
Shepherd-Barron
Shepherd-Barron devised
devised what
what is
is
hailed
hailed as
as the
the world's
world's first
first
automatic
automatic teller
teller machine,
machine,
although
his
although his claim
claim to
to the
the title
title is
is a
a
matter
matter ofdispute.
ofdispute. He
He pitched
pitched the
the
device
device to
to the
the British
British bank
bank
Barclays.
It
accepted
Barclays. It accepted immediately,
immediately,
and
and the
the first
first model
model was
was built
built and
and
installed
installed in
in London
London in
in 1967.
1967.
Though
Though the
the machine
machine used
used PIN
PIN
(personal
identification
number)
(personal identification number)
codes,
codes, a
a concept
concept Shepherd-Barron
Shepherd-Barron
also
also claims
claims to
to have
have invented,
invented, it
it
was
was dependent
dependent on
on checks
checks
impregnated
impregnated with
with the
the (slightly)
(slightly)
radioactive
isotope
radioactive isotope carbon
carbon 14
14 to
to
initiate
initiate a
a withdrawal,
withdrawal, as
as the
the
magnetic
magnetic coding
coding for
for ATM
ATM cards
cards
had
not
yet
been
developed.
had not yet been developed. One
One
other
other difference
difference from
from its
its
ubiquitous
ubiquitous modern
modern counterpart:
counterpart: it
it
didn't
didn't charge
charge a
a fee.
fee.

The Origins of $

No one knows the origin of

the dollar sign, but the U.S.
Bureau of Engraving and
Printing has a pretty good
guess. The government
agency responsible for
designing and printing all
those crisp dollar bills says
the design, originally used to
denote Spanish and Mexican
pesos, "PS
S," came to be
written such that theSwas
on top of the theP. The
symbol was widely used
before the 1875 issue of the
first U.S. paper dollar. And in
case you never noticed, it
doesn't actually appear on
U.S. currency at all.

You Can't Take It with You

All bills eventually wear out. The smaller the value, the more often
you use it and the shorter its lifespan. A $1 bill lasts a measly 21
months, while aBen Franklincan last more than seven years. Over
that time, of course, owing to inflation, its value will decline which
is the perfect excuse to spend it quickly

America's Counterfeit Cops

Following the Civil War, counterfeit

currency became such a rampant
problem in the U.S. more than a third
of all bills were believed to be fakes
that the government was forced to act. In
1865, a special division of the Treasury
Department was created to crack down
on counterfeiting before it completely
undermined the nation's economic
system. That agency still fights bogus
money today, but it's better known for
itsdark-suited agentsand
intimidating SUVs it's theUnited
States Secret Service, which also
protects the President and other top
political leaders. President Abraham
Lincoln authorized the Secret Service on
April 14, 1865 (ironically, the day he was
assassinated at Ford's Theater); its
mission expanded to full-time presidential
protection following the assassination of
President William McKinley in 1901. The
6,500-person agency was moved to the
newly established Department of
Homeland Security in 2002.

It's All About the Elizabeths

From Australia to Trinidad and Tobago, Queen Elizabeth II's
portrait has graced the currencies of 33 different countries
more than that of any other individual. Canada was the first to use
the British monarch's image, in 1935, when it printed the 9-yearold Princess on its $20 notes. Over the years, 26 different
portraits of Elizabeth have been used in the U.K. and its current
and former colonies, dominions and territories most of which
were commissioned with the direct purpose of putting them on
banknotes. However, some countries, such as Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe), Malta and Fiji, used already existing portraits. The
Queen is frequently shown in formal crown-and-scepter attire,
although Canada and Australia prefer to depict her in a plain
dress and pearls. And while many countries update their
currencies to reflect the Queen's advancing age, others enjoy
keeping her young. When Belize redesigned its currency in 1980,
it selected a portrait that was already 20 years old.

Dirty Money

All
All money,
money, it
it turns
turns
out,
out, could
could stand
stand
to
to be
be laundered:
laundered:
the
the stuff
stuff is
is filthy.
filthy.
Studies
Studies show
show that
that
a
solid
majority
a solid majority of
of
U.S.
U.S. bills
bills are
are
contaminated
contaminated by
by
cocaine.
cocaine.
Drug
Drug traffickers
traffickers
often
often use
use cokecokesullied
sullied hands
hands to
to
move
cash,
and
move cash, and
many
many users
users roll
roll
bills
into
sniffing
bills into sniffing
straws;
straws; the
the
brushes
brushes and
and
rollers
in
rollers in ATMs
ATMs
may
may distribute
distribute
the
the nose
nose candy
candy
through
through the
the rest
rest
of
the
money
of the money
supply.
supply.

Inflation Nation

To deal with hyperinflation that reached the

ludicrous level of 231 million % and saw the price
for a loaf of bread hit 300 billion Zimbabwean
dollars, Zimbabwe's newly formed unity
government including bitter opponents
President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai issued a $100 trillion note
in early January. (One hundred trillion, by the
way, is a 1 with 14 zeroes making the note the
highest denomination in the world.)
Just weeks later, however, the leaders decided to
back-burner the hugely devalued Zimbabwean
dollar and began allowing people to do business
in other currencies. The move managed to curb
inflation for several months until a small uptick
in July. One hopes some of those $100 trillion
notes didn't get spent all in one place.

The First Paper Money

Paper bills were first used by the Chinese, who started carrying folding
money during the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907) mostly in the form of
privately issued bills of credit or exchange notes and used it for
more than 500 years before the practice began to catch on in Europe
in the 17th century. While it took another century or two for paper
money to spread to the rest of the world, China was already going
through a fairly advanced financial crisis: the production of paper notes
had grown until their value plummeted, prompting inflation to soar. As
a result, China eliminated paper money entirely in 1455 and wouldn't
adopt it again for several hundred years. Another not-so-well-known
fact: the wordcashwas originally used to describe the type of round
bronze coins with square holes commonly used in the Tang Dynasty,
calledkai-yuans.

Coins have ridges to protect against counterfeiting.

Most of us use coins to purchase items from vending machines, or we

throw them in a bank to save for a rainy day, but coins have a
fascinating history. Did you ever wonder why the quarter has those
ridges on the edge? They were created to prevent counterfeiting. Yes,
even back in those gentler times of Colonial America there were
improvising criminals trying to counterfeit money. These counterfeiters
would shave the edges off of coins because they were made of silver and
gold. A ten dollar gold piece was made with ten dollars worth of gold.
To make a little extra money, people would shave the edges of the coins
and collect the metal. If done well enough, the smaller coins would not
be noticed by merchants and they in effect would get less than ten
dollars in gold for a purchase. This gave the counterfeiter extra gold or
silver to make into more coins. Today, the ridges remain as a form of
"braille" for the seeing impaired. There are 119 grooves on the edge of a
quarter.

A dollar bill only lasts 18 months

before it wears out
The dollar bill is the most circulated bill in the U.S. One-dollar bills account for
48% of the paper bills printed by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. A
dollar bill usually makes it through around 18 months of use before it wears out.
If you take the time to look at the dollar bill you will notice a few things. It's easy
to notice the "all seeing eye" over the pyramid, the eagle with 13 arrows in its
talons and the Latin phrase E Pluribus Unum (Out of many, One). There are a few
things, however, you might have missed, such as other phrases on the bill:
Annuit Coeptis - "God (or He/Providence) has favored our undertakings"
Novus ordo seclorum - "New Order of the Ages"
In God We Trust - This phrase actually first appeared on U.S. money between
1864 - 1873 on a two-cent coin. It reappeared in 1955 and has been on all U.S.
money since 1963
In 2010, the U.S.Mintproduced roughly 1,856,000,000 one dollar bills. If you
have one-million of them, they would weigh, 2,040.8 pounds. Ask for 20s
instead, as one million of them would only weigh 20.4 pounds. As well, you can
make change for a one-dollar bill 293 ways

The first woman to appear on U.S. coins wasn't

even American.

Several women have appeared on U.S. coins. The very

first woman was actually not an American, she was a
Spanish queen. Featured on a commemorative coin,
Queen Isabella of Spain was the first lady to be cast on
a U.S. coin in 1893.
First Lady Martha Washington however, is the first
woman to appear on circulated paper money. She was
featured on a $1 Silver Certificate in 1886 and 1891.
Since then, Sacagawea, Susan B. Anthony and Helen
Keller are the only other women to be featured on
circulating money. The first African-American to appear
was Booker T. Washington. His image was cast onto a
memorial half-dollar. While there have been several
African-American Treasurer's of the U.S., none have
been featured on circulating currency.

The most counterfeited bill in the country is

$20.

In the early years of the nation, counterfeiting was a crime

punishable by death. Benjamin Franklin, who also printed
money for a short time actually put the phrase, "to counterfeit
is death" on his money. Counterfeiting was and is considered a
threat to the economic stability of a nation.
Early in the nation's history, before the U.S. Mint was
established, many colonies printed their own money. Foreign
money was often used and much of it was easily counterfeited.
To combat this, the U.S. Mint and Secret Service were created.
The most counterfeited denomination of money is the $20 bill
followed by the $100. In foreign countries, the U.S. $100 is the
most frequently counterfeited. As of 2005, the U.S. Secret
Service reported: "foreign seizures totaling $37.9 million in
counterfeit U.S. currency and foreign passing totaling $4.8
million in counterfeit U.S. currency." Coins are also still
counterfeited, although today they are most likely to be fakes
of rare and valuable coins.