You can’t, but private banks hold accounts with the central bank and can write checks drawn on them. I suppose this client wanted to get cash from his private bank and was sent to the central bank with a check for the desired amount, which they debited to his account with the private bank.
And more commonly the later than the former. There are, apparently, some large families in the area that only shop once a month or something. Actually, I don’t really know. As long as the payment method is legit we don’t really care.
Well, the shoebox is a pretty obvious target of opportunity. Reducing the size of the contain by a factor of 10 or 100 would make it less obvious. But I’d be nervous in all three cases myself.
He did not walk out of the bank branch with the shoebox (or Halliburton Zero attache case ; it went in a backpack. However, as noted, the transaction had to be arranged in advance, potentially marking him as more than a random target, if you want to get really paranoid.
In any case, it went smoothly, he made it to the airport and the rest of his trip, and is now the owner of a nice beachfront apartment (I don’t know anything about the specific seller, or why an international wire transfer was not feasible, but apparently this is one of those countries where large cash transactions are normal, or at least were at the time).
I am going to try to get this thread back on the original topic of three dollar bills.
Many private bank notes were issued by banks, canal companies, railroads, etc. prior to the civil war and circulated widely, often at a discount. There are numerous examples of three dollar denominations of these private bank notes. Use of these private bank notes was effectively ended in 1863 when Congress imposed a 10 % tax on the notes.
Prior to the Constitution of 1789, the United States issued paper currency commonly referred to as Continental Currency. In an earlier post, DPRK showed us an example of Continental Currency in a denomination of three dollars. Although DPRK’s example is styled “United Colonies”, there are similar later issues styled “United Sates”, some with a denomination of three dollars.
Many will say that the first paper currency issued by the United States under the Constitution of 1789 are the Demand Notes of 1861. Neither the United States government nor any Federal Reserve Bank has ever issued a note or certificate in the denomination of three dollars in 1861 or any year thereafter.
However, this may not be the entire story. Under the Act of February 24, 1815, Congress authorized the issuance of Treasury Notes and the Treasury subsequently issued notes in various denominations including three dollars. See this link for a picture of one: Market Analysis: 1815 Treasury note leads Heritage sale of Coltrane offering. Although the original intent of these notes was for the federal government to borrow money, they were receivable for debts, duties, and taxes owed to the federal government. Therefore, they began to circulate among the public and were widely accepted as currency. However, they were not legal tender for private debts. What do you all think? Do the three dollar Treasury Notes issued pursuant to the Act of February 24. 1815 count as a three dollar bills issued by the United States governmant under the Constitution of 1789?