# What's your favorite monetary denomination?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 16, 2018, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023 "2018-07-16T17:30:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/41 "2018-07-19T02:22:29Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#):
>
> I like the old [French 50 franc note](http://navonanumis.blogspot.com/2012/07/antoine-de-saint-exupery-writer-and.html), which had Antoine de Saint Exupéry and drawings from _The Little Prince_.
That one was neat. I liked it too.
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### Author:  [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/42 "2018-07-19T02:24:28Z")
I like the five dollar bill. Abe Lincoln’s benevolent face is comforting, and the $5 denomination is not too big, not too small. You don’t feel guilty about expecting a cashier to break a five.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/43 "2018-07-19T02:28:53Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#):
>
> The hundred.
>
> No, not the hundred as it is now; the hundred as it is now is so awful that, when I see _old_ hundreds, I blurt out _“wow, that looks like actual money.”_
It’s just a matter of what you’re used to. In Canada our last series that looked mid-Victorian design like your old hundred got pulled from circulation sixty years ago.
I like your new one better.
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/44 "2018-07-19T02:31:37Z")
I like the Japanese 500 yen coin. It’s about the size of a quarter but worth more like $5. And Japan is the global vending machine leader.
When I first lived in Japan in the early 1990s. I had a big jar. Whenever I got a 500 yen coin in change, I wouldn’t spend it and rather toss it in the jar. 9 months or so later, I cashed in the jar for about USD1500 and blew it as extra spending money on a vacation.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/45 "2018-07-19T11:05:18Z")
> [@Nava](#):
>
> 500 pesetas notes were quite rare and I liked the color. The characters were also interesting: the one representing Basque painter Ignacio Zuloaga was based on a self-portrait, that of Galician poetess Rosalía de Castro on one of the few portraits we have of her. There was an older version with Isabel I of Castille, but I don’t recall ever encountering one in the wild.
Why do other countries feature foreigners on their currency?😕
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### Author:  [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/46 "2018-07-19T12:05:44Z")
I like the Loonie and the Toonie. I wish we’d adopt them here in the US.
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/47 "2018-07-19T13:04:12Z")
I like the heft and density of the [British One Pound coin](https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/coin-design-and-specifications/one-pound-coin/) (the pre-2017 ‘round pound’, not the current 12-sided monstrosity). I’d like a notional dollar coin to be something like that.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/48 "2018-07-19T13:21:55Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> Why do other countries feature foreigners on their currency?😕
Because otherwise our currency would be full of _guiris_. Or we could just go architectural and have pictures of bridges! Now there’s an idea!
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/49 "2018-07-19T13:46:17Z")
> [@Nava](#):
>
> Because otherwise our currency would be full of _guiris_. Or we could just go architectural and have pictures of bridges! Now there’s an idea!
😃
Too good for old Abe Lincoln, huh?
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/50 "2018-07-19T14:09:32Z")
I’ll second the $5 bill nomination. Just right for convenience store purchases where they might not have change.
Favorite bygone coin: 50 cent piece. Great for flipping, just the right size for a coin.
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/51 "2018-07-19T14:41:43Z")
Likes:
$20, Highest store of value that is always accepted
$0.25 good size to value ratio for a coin
$0.10 good size to value ratio for a coin
$1 coin when $1 paper available, but only occasionally
Dislikes:
Nickels, bad size to value ratio for a coin
Pennies bad size to value ratio for a coin
$10, just a oddball, $5’s and 20’s do just fine, no need to confuse things with another denomination.
$50 Not universally accepted and gives some feeling hesitation in using them
$100 Not universally accepted and gives some feeling hesitation in using them
$1 and $2 coins when paper $1 is not available, Just end up carrying too much change.
The above basically for USD, CAD and Euros.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/52 "2018-07-19T14:42:27Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> 😃
>
> Too good for old Abe Lincoln, huh?
Eh, that beard might have made him worthy of maybe a coin… nah.
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### Author:  [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/53 "2018-07-19T14:54:28Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> I’ll second the $5 bill nomination. Just right for convenience store purchases where they might not have change.
>
> Favorite bygone coin: 50 cent piece. Great for flipping, just the right size for a coin.
I get 50¢ coins all the time at banks in Maine. Most of them are dated 2001 or earlier, but they don’t circulate much, so many of them still look pretty good. According to an e-mail I got from the U.S. Mint, they are still considered a circulating denomination, it’s just that there are supposedly enough of them in circulation to meet current demand.
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### Author:  [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/54 "2018-07-19T16:58:12Z")
For convenience re: value, I appreciate the $10 and $5 bills. Other than that, most U.S. money is pretty uninspired.
I always like it in old British movies when someone has that huge old paper money. They were too big to carry in wallets, at least as we know them today, so it seemed that men just carried them folded over once or twice in their pockets. I’ve never seen them in person, if I ever go to Britain I will try to find a museum or someplace where I can at least look at them, if not handle them.
Just did a bit of inflation history research, and a 5 pound note in 1930 had the value of $500 US today. Makes you think, don’it?
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/55 "2018-07-19T17:51:15Z")
For walking around, daytime money I like the $10 bill. If I need more than that, or if it’s evening when things are somehow more expensive, I have the old debit card.
The ginormous Ike silver dollars were awe inspiring. Wish I still had some but not for carrying around. I do like dollar coins though.
If Unca Sam would issue some clear holographic polymer 1 or 2 dollar coins I’d be all up in that.
Pennies suck as currency, but they make an interesting and decently-priced floor tile.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/56 "2018-07-19T18:14:55Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#):
>
> Just did a bit of inflation history research, and a 5 pound note in 1930 had the value of $500 US today. Makes you think, don’it?
That certainly puts Bertie’s tips to Jeeves in a different light! :eek:
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/57 "2018-07-19T18:16:37Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> Why do other countries feature foreigners on their currency?😕
Hey, it wasn’t until 1935 that we had a couple of Canadians on our Bank of Canada notes, instead of all those kings and queens and dukes and earls and such, as well as dead English and French generals. 😛
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/58 "2018-07-19T18:21:04Z")
Other than its ubiquity, I _like_ the 20. It’s not so small that you can’t pay for most things that you decide to use cash for with several of them, and not so large that you feel embarrassed paying for small things with. You only need a few 5s and 10s in your pocket, which I _do_ like, but any more than that will just fill up my wallet unnecessarily.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2018, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/59 "2018-07-19T22:49:15Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#):
>
> Just did a bit of inflation history research, and a 5 pound note in 1930 had the value of $500 US today. Makes you think, don’it?
Here’s what the fiver looked like in 1930: [just plain black and white](https://greatbritishzine.co.uk/2016/01/18/history-of-the-5-pound-note/)
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### Author:  [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2018, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-monetary-denomination/818023/60 "2018-07-20T12:25:28Z")
I’m really basic here: US 20$ bills and quarters.
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