# Highest face value ever on money? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 11, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273 "2010-11-11T03:53:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/21 "2010-11-11T13:18:01Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Sorry to continue the hijack, but once Zimbabwe got into the trillions they went back to [proper designs](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3e/Zimbabwe_$100_trillion_2009_Obverse.jpg). (The teetering pile of rocks is a good symbol for any dictator’s ruined national bank.) I’m sorry but a font that’s a cross between hair metal and mid-2000s album cover isn’t much of an improvement 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/22 "2010-11-11T13:56:56Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > 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. I don’t think banks want you to contemplate how worthless currency can get. It’s sort of like showing a plane crash movie as your in-flight entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/23 "2010-11-11T14:02:53Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > I don’t think banks want you to contemplate how worthless currency can get. It’s sort of like showing a plane crash movie as your in-flight entertainment. I was thinking of it more in terms of a profession-specific joke, or, quite differently, as an admonition and a reminder to bankers what may happen if banking (especially central banking) is done poorly. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/24 "2010-11-11T14:12:06Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I’m sorry but a font that’s a cross between hair metal and mid-2000s album cover isn’t much of an improvement 🙂 It also looks like they printed “TRILLION” in a heavier font. Just to make a point. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/25 "2010-11-11T14:29:40Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > It also looks like they printed “TRILLION” in a heavier font. Just to make a point. Should have had a picture of Dr. Evil with “One TRILLION Dollars” in a speech bubble… ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/26 "2010-11-11T14:48:30Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > Coming back to the OP: According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_pound_sterling#High-value_notes), 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 presenet-day currency. BTW, the $100,000 US bill mentioned above was issued for similar reasons - to facilitate interbank transfers. They never circulated. The OP may wish to restrict such non-circulating bills as well, which were probably printed by many governments before the days of wire transfer. OTOH, the Canadian example isn’t really intended to circulate either. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/27 "2010-11-11T14:52:17Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I’m sorry but a font that’s a cross between hair metal and mid-2000s album cover isn’t much of an improvement 🙂 On the contrary, that makes it awesome. The only thing that would make it cooler is if they’d put an umlaut over the O in “Trillion.” ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/28 "2010-11-11T15:42:57Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > 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. I just bought 2 for \< $4. I thought I was special when I had a 1M Turkish Lira note but it can’t compare to 100 TRILLION. Thanks for the tip. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/29 "2010-11-11T17:28:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, but are you talking about the bigness of the number or the buying power? Sounds like you’re trying to have it both ways… > [@](#): > > 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. Are you two joking here? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/30 "2010-11-11T17:34:03Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > Coming back to the OP: According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_pound_sterling#High-value_notes), 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. A £100 million note would certainly be the win here. It’s worth approximately 161,428,000 Canadian dollars. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/31 "2010-11-11T18:21:14Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Guys, I specifically mentioned the highest face value not the biggest number. You’re confusing the issue by using “face value.” What you seem to mean is monetary value. To me, the face value is simply the number printed on the bill. Bills do not indicate their actual monetary value on their face, which fluctuates. From Merriam Webster: > [@](#): > > 1: the value indicated on the face (as of a postage stamp or a stock certificate) > 2: the apparent value or significance \ > > Example: We paid $100 for tickets that had a face value of $50. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/32 "2010-11-11T18:32:29Z")
Okay, so what is the highest real value at time of issue, for a general circulation coin or note? ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/33 "2010-11-11T18:47:29Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > On the contrary, that makes it awesome. > > The only thing that would make it cooler is if they’d put an umlaut over the O in “Trillion.” Perhaps some skulls and thorns also. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/34 "2010-11-11T19:00:10Z")
A $100,000 bill from the 1930’s would still only be worth $100,000 if you had it in your pocket today, so I don’t think it beats the Canadian money. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/35 "2010-11-11T19:36:24Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > A $100,000 bill from the 1930’s would still only be worth $100,000 if you had it in your pocket today, so I don’t think it beats the Canadian money. I think the 100 million pound BofE note does, though, if we’re allowing bills printed as bank transfer instruments. Inflation adjusted or not. What might be interesting is inflation-adjusted value for an actually circulated notes, leaving aside both bank transfer instruments and bullion coins intended for investment, such as the Canadian example. Currently, the winner seems to be the Latvian 500 lat note, just a tad under $1000: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highest-valued\_currency\_unit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highest-valued_currency_unit) (Although the lat is 4th place on that list, note the “highest valued banknote” column.) However, before modern banking, larger notes were printed, which may represent more than $1000. Some are still technically circulating. The largest circulated US bill was $10,000, last printed in 1934, which had a buying power of $163,000 according to one calculator I just found. Since they’ve never been devalued, they are still worth $10,000 today, and there’s apparently about 300 of them out there somewhere. BTW, if we take the tack of inflation adjusting, the 1934 series $100,000 bill is $1,630,000. ETA: Dang. I didn’t look far enough down the list. The Swiss 1000 franc note edges out the Latvian 500 lat. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/36 "2010-11-11T19:43:38Z")
… and, of course, some very small currency could be printed in a large enough denomination to go over those, but I’m guessing not. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/37 "2010-11-11T20:18:56Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > You’re confusing the issue by using “face value.” What you seem to mean is monetary value. To me, the face value is simply the number printed on the bill. Bills do not indicate their actual monetary value on their face, which fluctuates. I’d disagree. A $100 bill in 1960 had a higher monetary value than a $100 bill has in 2010. But they have the same face value. And what I’m looking for here are face values not monetary values. And face value is not just the number on the bill. It’s the number on the bill times the worth of each individual unit. That’s why an American twenty dollar bill has a higher face value than a Japanese thousand yen note. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/38 "2010-11-11T20:23:16Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > And face value is not just the number on the bill. It’s the number on the bill times the worth of each individual unit. That’s why an American twenty dollar bill has a higher face value than a Japanese thousand yen note. This is a meaningful concept, but it’s not what everyone else means by face value. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/39 "2010-11-11T20:58:22Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’d disagree. You’re welcome to disagree with the dictionary all you want, but if you make up your own definitions for things then people are going to get confused about what you are talking about. > [@](#): > > And face value is not just the number on the bill. It’s the number on the bill times the worth of each individual unit. That’s why an American twenty dollar bill has a higher face value than a Japanese thousand yen note. Not according to any conventional definition of “face value.” In any case, by this definition, you can’t tell the “face value” of a bill by looking at its face. It’s going to depend on the value of the unit relative to other currencies, and this varies over time. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273/40 "2010-11-11T21:22:06Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > 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. Isn’t that a little contradictory? $100,000 did buy a great deal 1934, although I agree with you that the $100,000 note doesn’t win, because it was never really in regular circulation. It was never legal for individuals to hold them. I understand that the Bank of England has “titan” and “elephant” notes outstanding in huge denominations, but they are held only by the few high street banks of issue, as collateral for their banknotes. I don’t think those would count either. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-face-value-ever-on-money/560273.md?page=3)