The Canadian government is now issuing 100kg gold coins that have a face value of one million Canadian dollars. They have to be special ordered and the buyer has to pay for the bullion value above the face value. But five of them have been purchased and they do have a legal face value. cite
Is one million Canadian dollars the highest face value that’s ever been on a piece of money? I know that some currencies have had higher numbers during periods of hyperinflation but these bills had relatively little value. And I also know that some coins and currency has a higher value due to their worth as collectibles. But has there ever been a coin or bill with a higher face value?
IIRC correctly, my mothers countrymen (the Hungarians) once released a million-billion Pengo bill, before they abandoned the pengo in place of the forint.
I was beaten to Hungary. But still, just think about that for a minute. Prices doubled in Hungary every 15 hours. When the pengo was replaced by the forint, the official exchange rate was 4x10^29 (4 octillion) pengo to 1 forint, which in turn was set at the rate of 11.74 forints to 1 dollar. Almost 48 octillion pengo to a single dollar. It staggers the imagination.
The old saw about needing a wheelbarrow full of money for a loaf of bread was quite literally true.
Still, it would be nice to have a 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollar bill, if only for the novelty of it. They got close to Hungary, but didn’t quite get it done.
Now, if you’re talking actual VALUE, look further down the page on that link. Woodrow Wilson’s $100,000 bill, illegal for a civilian to own and only used in inter-governmental transactions.
In 1934 the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing produced $100,000 legal tender Gold Certificate notes. These were only for transactions between banks, but they were really used, as I imagine the monster Canadian golds won’t be.
Anyway, US$100,000 USD in 1934 is about C$1,600,000 now.
Guys, I specifically mentioned the highest face value not the biggest number. So a bill worth eleventy-one-bazillion googles doesn’t win unless that amount is worth more than one million Canadian dollars.
The US$100,000 bill is an interesting case. C$1,000,000 is worth considerably more than that now (about US$995,520). But $100,000 bills were printed in 1934 and with inflation that’s the equivalent of about $1,630,140 in 2010 dollars.
But I’m going to rule that doesn’t count. After all, I’m talking about face values here. A $100,000 bill from 1934 would still have a face value of $100,000 in 2010 even though a dollar buys less.
I have one; you can get them on ebay quite easily for just a few bucks, and they make great decoration in a frame on the wall, especially if you’re working in banking.
Coming back to the OP: According to Wikipedia, there are £1 million and £100 million notes of the Bank of England. The background to this is that for historical reasons, some privately owned Scottish and Northern Irish banks have the right to issue their own notes, which they have to back, however, with reserves in the form of Bank of England notes. To facilitate this, these very high denomination notes are used, but only internally within the banks.
I remember seeing a (cancelled) £1 million Bank of England note from the 19th century on display in the Bank of England museum in London. Considering the enormous loss of purchasing power which sterling suffered over the decades, this must be an astonishing amount converted into presnet-day currency.
The OP specifically says “face value” – the bigness of the number. In the current era, it would be hard to beat the Third Zimbabwe Dollar’s 100 trillion note, as commented on by Sarge Doors.
Sorry to continue the hijack, but once Zimbabwe got into the trillions they went back to proper designs. (The teetering pile of rocks is a good symbol for any dictator’s ruined national bank.)
To answe the OP, all cites I can find are that the $1m coin is the highest face value ever minted.
