# What denominations of coins and bills have been discontinued by the U.S. over the years? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2025, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817 "2025-11-13T00:30:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/1 "2025-11-13T00:30:19Z")
What denominations, and when did they happen? ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/2 "2025-11-13T00:44:43Z")
Off the top of my head: there was the half cent, minted until just before the Civil War; some short-lived two- and three-cent pieces and an even more short-lived 20-cent piece (all from the mid-19th century); and various gold coins ($2.5, $5, $10, $20, all of which were standard denominations up until we stopped using gold in the 1930s). There was a $3 coin for a little while as well; I _think_ it lasted more or less exactly as long the 3-cent coins, and this was because 3 cents was the standard postage rate at the time. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/3 "2025-11-13T00:44:50Z")
There is a table: > **[Obsolete denominations of United States currency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsolete_denominations_of_United_States_currency)** > > The United States has produced several coins and banknotes of its dollar which no longer circulate or have been disused. Many of these were removed for specific reasons such as inflation reducing their value, rising minting costs, a lack of demand, or being too similar to another denomination. > The U.S. Dollar has numerous discontinued denominations, particularly high denomination bills, issued before and in 1934 in six denominations ranging from $500 to $100,000. Although still legal tender, m... ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/4 "2025-11-13T01:03:25Z")
Note that the $100,000 can’t be said to be “discontinued” as such, because it was never publicly available. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/5 "2025-11-13T02:31:36Z")
Yeah, I was going to mention the gold double-Eagles ($20), Eagles ($10), half-Eagles and quarter-Eagles (misspent youth as a coin collector), but you beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/6 "2025-11-13T02:34:33Z")
I had a 20 cent piece that I used to expose supposed psychics on this board and a few others. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/7 "2025-11-13T02:37:20Z")
I’m trying to sell the coin collection I amassed as a teenager (with little luck so far), but the one coin I’m keeping is my 1871 3-cent nickel, because it’s so cool. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/8 "2025-11-13T03:05:51Z")
The penny. Just now. > **[US Mint presses final pennies as production ends after more than 230 years](https://apnews.com/article/us-mint-treasury-department-penny-end-production-86139df5644ef0885a9baf98e9677380)** > > The U.S. has ended production of the penny. The last 1-cent coins were made Wednesday at the mint in Philadelphia. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/9 "2025-11-13T03:10:49Z")
Cool! And how about [the “mill” or one-tenth of the now defunct penny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mill_(currency)#United_States)? Admittedly it seems to have been more often a theoretical rather than a practical currency unit, but apparently some state and local governments, as well as private institutions, did “mint” one-mill tokens. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/10 "2025-11-13T03:45:16Z")
I once took a $500 bill at Target, in the early 1980s. I was able to give the person change, so it really was NBD. That’s the only one I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/11 "2025-11-13T04:30:44Z")
They stopped production of $2 bills in 1966, and resumed making them as Federal Reserve notes in 1976. Apparently hoarding accounts for so few being in circulation. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/12 "2025-11-13T04:38:14Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I had a 20 cent piece that I used to expose supposed psychics on this board and a few others. I’d love to hear the story. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/13 "2025-11-13T04:39:58Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Apparently hoarding accounts for so few being in circulation. I know a few people (nearly all men of a certain age) who still like to use $2 bills to pay for things, as they seem to enjoy the novelty of it. They’re the same sort who like to use dollar coins, too. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/14 "2025-11-13T04:57:58Z")
I would love to pay for something with a mixture of Eisenhower dollars, Kennedy half-dollars, sakies, and susies. Maybe mix in some $10 bills from the ‘50s. But I’d settle for a stack of $2 bills. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/15 "2025-11-13T06:33:05Z")
When my nieces were preschoolers, my brother had his bank order a pack of $2 bills. That was the kids’ Tooth Fairy money. ---
**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 13, 2025, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/16 "2025-11-13T07:54:56Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Apparently hoarding accounts for so few being in circulation. I think this hoarding is a case of a self-fulfilling prophecy. People think $2 bills are rare, so they keep them, and that’s what makes them rare, perpetuating the cycle. In fact, they can’t be all that unusual; I’ve come across one during a two-week trip to the US in 2000 (and I was a kid at the time, so I wasn’t really handling a lot of cash). ---
**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:** [November 13, 2025, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/17 "2025-11-13T13:21:50Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Yeah, I was going to mention the gold double-Eagles ($20), Eagles ($10), half-Eagles and quarter-Eagles (misspent youth as a coin collector), but you beat me to it. I’ll take this opportunity to repeat one of my favorite entries from Ambrose Bierce’s _The Devil’s Dictionary_ (1906-1911) # Hippogriff, n. An animal (now extinct) which was half horse and half griffin. The griffin was itself a compound creature, half lion and half eagle. The hippogriff was actually, therefore, only one-quarter eagle, which is two dollars and fifty cents in gold. The study of zoology is full of surprises. Incidentally, Mark Twain’s hero in _A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court_, Hank Morgan, introduced coins worth millrays into Arthur’s sixth century Britain, because values were so low that it made sense to use coins with such a small value. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/18 "2025-11-13T13:44:09Z")
Basically, if someone professed to have the ability to “far-see”, I would ask them to tell us what coin was taped to my desk. It was never hidden, and there was never other coins that could confuse people (both claims being made, btw). No solid guesses even came close. It was an 1876 Philadelphia Mint 20 cent piece, and unfortunately it disappeared when the house went up in flames last Christmas Day. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/19 "2025-11-13T14:36:36Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > They stopped production of $2 bills in 1966, and resumed making them as Federal Reserve notes in 1976. > > Apparently hoarding accounts for so few being in circulation. This has been discussed before on this board; on one hand, while rarer than $10’s, there are not _that_ few in circulation. On the other hand, well, for the Fiscal Year 2026 the Federal Reserve has ordered exactly… [zero](https://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/coin_currency_orders.htm) $2’s. So, maybe not officially discontinued, but nobody wants any? It has been a long time since a couple of dollars was worth anything (3-4 bucks will still buy you a cup of coffee, though… for now) ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817/20 "2025-11-13T15:39:39Z")
In my area, they encouraged folks to get a new $2 on the first day they were made available, get a bicentennial themed postage stamp put the stamp on the bill and have it cancelled at a post office on that same day. Lots of folks (me included) did so for the hell of it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-denominations-of-coins-and-bills-have-been-discontinued-by-the-u-s-over-the-years/1024817.md?page=2)