# What Are Chances of Finding A Hundred Bill? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 26, 2014, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066 "2014-07-26T00:04:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/1 "2014-07-26T00:04:17Z")
I was wondering what are the chances of finding a large currency note on the street? Obviously it would be very far in between, pretty slim. Finding dollar bill(s) is quite common, and even more so finding change. It seems the larger the note, the less likely one is find it on the ground. Often large bank notes are found in lost wallets, purses/handbags, packets, but never by itself. This past week I was walking and found a hundred dollar bill on the ground(knocks on wood), and was not sure if it were authentic or not. So I took it over to a bank and they told me it was in fact real. It is one of those new ones issued by the Federal Reserve, with a security ribbon, large print, and a reflection of Benjamin Franklin when held up. And yes it was just lying there waiting to be claimed, there were no other bills around, nor a wallet. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/2 "2014-07-26T00:15:22Z")
Wow. That’s all I got. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/3 "2014-07-26T00:21:00Z")
I think I lost one. It might be mine. ---
**Author:** ![weef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@weef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/weef)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/4 "2014-07-26T00:29:46Z")
I found a $20 bill once at the grocery store I worked at and it was like hitting the lottery. That was what I was paid for working 5 hours! ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/5 "2014-07-26T00:37:16Z")
When I was in about 8th grade, I was riding my bike and saw a wallet lying on the street, and picked it up, and there was $27.50 in it, and absolutely nothing else, no ID or anything. My weeky allowance then (1953) was 25c, and it had the buying power of about $400 today. My dad made me save it, and it paid most of the $35 tuition fee for my first semester of college. My brother-in-law’s wife once found a brown paper bag on the street near her house in Detroit, and there was $17,000 in cash in it. She quickly became an expert on designer brands. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/6 "2014-07-26T01:04:46Z")
Finding paper bags with large quantities of cash is a red flag - very few honest people carry such things, and the people who do carry them tend to want them back. See opening sequence of _Atlantic City_ (IIRC - no, not Susan Sarandon’s boobs) - her brother vs. the mob guy. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/7 "2014-07-26T01:12:16Z")
Back in the mid 80s I found a loose $50 note stuck in the shrubbery outside the apartment building. Was my first experience with… …hedge funds. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/8 "2014-07-26T01:12:19Z")
About eight or nine years ago, i attended a conference in Alexandria, Virginia. It wasn’t very far from the Metro station to the hotel, and i was a poor grad student at the time, so i decided to walk. On the way there, walking through a residential neighborhood, i looked down at the kerb and saw some bills, which turned out to be two 50s and two 100s, for $300 total. I looked around, to see if anyone was frantically searching the street for lost money, but there was not a person in sight, so i picked up the money and continued on my way. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/9 "2014-07-26T01:36:12Z")
I’ve actually found hundred-dollar bills twice. The first time was in downtown Chicago. I was in a Borders, and while I was browsing the CDs I spotted the actress who played the Oracle in _Matrix Reloaded_. Fifteen minutes later I was crossing the street and found a C-note in the crosswalk. Coincidence? I think not! The second time was in a Menards parking lot. Nothing mystical that time, although the bill was neatly folded and enclosed in a tiny glassine envelope. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/10 "2014-07-26T01:43:43Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Finding paper bags with large quantities of cash is a red flag - very few honest people carry such things, and the people who do carry them tend to want them back. > See opening sequence of _Atlantic City_ (IIRC - no, not Susan Sarandon’s boobs) - her brother vs. the mob guy. Also, the novel (and film) _A Simple Plan_. Some guys find a bag of cash in the woods and decide to keep it. Result: Lots and lots of violence and death. That book will kill off any fantasies you have about finding money. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/11 "2014-07-26T09:59:04Z")
…Or even (streaching the point) _No Country for Old Men_ ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/12 "2014-07-26T10:30:24Z")
My daughter found a big bill in a WalMart parking lot - I think it was $100. There was no one around, no one obviously searching for anything, so she kept it. That lot was known for, um, substance transactions… I found $40 in my driveway, but it had fallen out of my pocket. Lesson learned - keep bigger bills in the wallet and just put small amounts in the pocket. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/13 "2014-07-26T10:43:03Z")
My son and DIL found a $100 bill at the beach, in the water I think where they were looking for shells. They let it dry in the sun and then went to the boardwalk. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/14 "2014-07-26T12:25:45Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Finding paper bags with large quantities of cash is a red flag - very few honest people carry such things, and the people who do carry them tend to want them back. My little brother bought his first new car with a bag of cash. He researched the hell out of the car he wanted and went into a dealership. He told the salesman the car he wanted, put his bag on the desk and said that was what he was willing to pay. It took a while for the salesman to count up the twenties, then he made a counter offer. My brother picked up his bag to leave, but before he was to the door the salesman caved. ETA: hiking in St Martin, I found a roll of US bills (around a grand). On the hike back we ran into a couple obviously searching. It was their vacation money and the joy it brought them was worth way more than the cash. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bruce\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/15 "2014-07-26T16:48:37Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > …Or even (streaching the point) _No Country for Old Men_ Just check for the tracking device first. 😉 I’ve found about 30 dollars in assorted Canadian bills folded up in a weird looking wallet laying on a sidewalk in Stratford Ontario. While working in Flint MI I found a 100 dollar bill in the basement of a dingy apartment complex. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/16 "2014-07-26T17:24:24Z")
The most I’ve ever found is a $20 on the ground next to an ATM. Obviously dropped by the previous user, who was nowhere in sight. It bought lunch. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/17 "2014-07-26T17:39:37Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Finding paper bags with large quantities of cash is a red flag - very few honest people carry such things, and the people who do carry them tend to want them back. > See opening sequence of _Atlantic City_ (IIRC - no, not Susan Sarandon’s boobs) - her brother vs. the mob guy. That was (IIRC) fiction. Not a reliable guide to evaluating real-life outcomes. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/18 "2014-07-26T18:11:35Z")
I was walking down the street in Brooklyn and spotted a pile of $20 bills on the ground. Someone walking the same direction saw them at the same time, so we split them and walked away $80 richer. There was an ATM on the block, but no one else in the vicinity. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/19 "2014-07-26T19:42:29Z")
I found three $1 bills in a McDonald’s parking lot once. Thought I was just lucky until I noticed three $20s also laying a short distance from the three $1s. So I found $63 all lying on the ground at one time and it made me pretty happy. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066/20 "2014-07-26T19:48:50Z")
The odds are better in a large city. More people + richer people = better odds. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-chances-of-finding-a-hundred-bill/694066.md?page=2)