In the US larger bills have been retired and are no longer printed. This implies that in previous years, there have been more options for denomination choices. What year had the most choices in US coin and paper money denominations?
While you may have a good question, including coins as well as paper really expands this. Is that what you were after?
A person in the U.S. in 1875-78 would have had the most choices for coin/currency denominations. Of course, not all of them were produced in that year, many being produced before but were still in circulation. About 25 different denominations were theoretically in circulation and legal tender.
This would extend from the cent to the $10,000 banknote. It includes coins in copper, nickel, silver and gold.
The problem with your question is that once a currency note is issued, it is legal tender permanently and therefore the currency options are cumulative. Are you asking what year the largest variety of denomenations was issued?
This.
I think this is correct.
Which appears to mean that any $10,000 bills, 50 cent bills, half pennies, and three cent coins that were never redeemed and are still legally in circulation are still good, legal US currency and can’t be refused for a debt.*
- I know, I know, Legal Tender has a more specific legal definition.
Or, perhaps, we can interpret the question as to when the most denominations were in common circulation or easily obtainable from a bank, even if none had actually been made that year. If I walk into a bank and ask to cash a check and ask to receive it in $1,000 bills, they may not have any and many not be able to acquire any at anything close to face value, so the fact that they are still legal tender doesn’t help me a lot. Now, I can probably acquire Susan B. Anthony dollars, even though they haven’t been made in a number of years. I saw a few at a branch not too long ago.
So, for example, in the US today, you have:
1¢ coins
5¢ coins
10¢ coins
25¢ coins, all widely used
50¢ coins, almost never used in general circulation
100¢ coins, rarely used in general circulation,
and
$1 bills
$5 bills
and $20 bills, all super-common
$10 bills
$50 bills
$100 bills, rarer in general circulation
and
$2 bills, rarely used in general circulation.
Which would you count? All? All but the 50¢ and the $2?
I’d vote for some time in the Civil War with all of the fractional currency bills.
Until they stopped printing them to make drug deals harder, I remember, aside from coins of 1 cent up to 1 dollar (yes, there were dollar coins for as long as I recall), so that makes 6. Then there were bills of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 5000, and 10,000 dollars. There were also said to be a few $100,000 bills but these were used only for settling debts between different Federal Reserve banks. So that makes 12 bills. But the ones, twos, and some of the fives were silver certificates and some of the bills were called United States Notes, although the majority of the bills of $5 and above were called Federal Reserve Notes. If you start counting all those, I don’t know how many different instruments were in circulation. The largest bill I ever actually saw was $1000. But I once had 8 bills of 1000 Swiss francs and 1000 franc notes circulated relatively freely. The Swiss franc is now worth nearly $1 although when this happened it was only 40 cents.
My brother once found a silver “half dime” embedded in the woodwork of our house somewhere. It was tiny and very well worn. A coin dealer offered him 5 cents for it.
This is part of the reason why I said 1875-78. You had a 20 cent coin those years, along with all the fractional notes, gold coins, etc.
Another problem.
Coins are easy. Let’s take the year 1875. There were ( I believe) 13 different denominations of coins actually minted.
Now, the big problem. There were (possibly) 11 denomination of banknotes printed and put into circulation that year. They didn’t have the date “1875” on them, but they were printed and put into circulation that year, even though they may have had a date of 1862, etc. on them. Banknotes have an issue date that authorizes them, but they continue to print them with that date for years, and years, and years. You get the picture.
So, any more clarification of what your were asking?