# How many U.S. $100,000 bills are in existence? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 28, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-u-s-100-000-bills-are-in-existence/504508 "2009-07-28T01:41:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CanTak3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@CanTak3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanTak3)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-u-s-100-000-bills-are-in-existence/504508/1 "2009-07-28T01:41:53Z")
I found references on Wikipedia for the $500, $1000, and $10,000 bank notes, but it did not mention how many of the $100,000 bills were remaining. Another site through Google mentioned that the remaining ones are in museums only, but there must be a private collector somewhere with one. Also, does anyone know of an instance where one sold? What’s the going price for one of these? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-u-s-100-000-bills-are-in-existence/504508/2 "2009-07-28T01:45:20Z")
I don’t know if they still have them, but The Mint in Las Vegas had $1,000,000 on display in $100,000 bills. Mario Puzo, in his book on Las Vegas, claimed that these wrere among the very few $100,000 bills in private hands and, for that matter, still in existence. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-u-s-100-000-bills-are-in-existence/504508/3 "2009-07-28T01:54:23Z")
Supposedly the $100,000, unlike the lower denominations, were only printed to facilitate transactions between Federal Reserve banks, and did not pass into circulation geanerally. **Samclem** probably would have more information on this. However, apparently a small number of them did move into private hands, as demonstrated by **Cal** ’s post. But there would be very few of them. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-u-s-100-000-bills-are-in-existence/504508/4 "2009-07-28T04:16:46Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I don’t know if they still have them, but The Mint in Las Vegas had $1,000,000 on display in $100,000 bills. Mario Puzo, in his book on Las Vegas, claimed that these wrere among the very few $100,000 bills in private hands and, for that matter, still in existence. Sounds a lot like the [display at the Horshoe](http://www.lvrj.com/business/27267779.html), only that was $10,000 bills: > [@](#): > > According to Review-Journal archives, the million-dollar display first appeared in the 1950s at what was then the Horseshoe Casino under ownership by Joe W. Brown. > > Brown sold the original stack in 1959 and in 1964 then-owner Benny Binion assembled $1 million in $10,000 bills and re-created the attraction. > For decades it was one of the most popular attractions in Las Vegas. > > In 2000, when coin collector Jay Parrino bought the display for an undisclosed price, longtime Binion’s fans mourned the loss. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-u-s-100-000-bills-are-in-existence/504508/5 "2009-07-28T04:57:36Z")
The 100k note was a federal reserve note that was only used within the federal reserve bank and never in public circulation and was not a “bill”. Large value bearer bonds were closer to “bills” than federal reserve notes. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-u-s-100-000-bills-are-in-existence/504508/6 "2009-07-28T11:23:19Z")
If my memory hasn’t totally gone, I think that there are no $100,000 notes left out there, and almost certainly not in private collections. Again, from memory, you’re dealing with two things here: the Treasury issued bills in 1928 which went up only to the $10,000 note. The $100,000 note only was issued in 1934,as a gold certificate, after Roosevelt took us off the gold standard. I’ve seen the Treasury Dept. specimen sheet at a coin show(I think). But I seriously doubt that any are known. I believe that all of the $5000 and $10000 notes in collectors hands are Federal Reserve Notes, rather than Gold Certificates. All the high value gold certifcates were removed and destroyed. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-u-s-100-000-bills-are-in-existence/504508/7 "2009-07-28T17:13:17Z")
There was one in the Smithsonian when I was a kid. I presume that it is still there.