# Who's on your currency?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-on-your-currency/53721
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 9, 2001, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-on-your-currency/53721 "2001-02-09T01:56:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2001, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-on-your-currency/53721/1 "2001-02-09T01:56:58Z")
I’m wondering whether Canada is the only country to have both the reigning sovereign and historical figures on our money.
All our coins have the Queen, but our bills have Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Sir John A. MacDonald, the Queen, William Lyon Mackenzie King, and Robert Borden on them (in that order of value).
Do other countries have such a mix?
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### Author:  [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2001, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-on-your-currency/53721/2 "2001-02-09T02:13:21Z")
I can only speak for America, but our money has only historical figures. I think the most recent figure is John Kennedy on the 50 cent piece, replacing Benjamin Franklin.
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### Author:  [@Gaspode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaspode)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2001, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-on-your-currency/53721/3 "2001-02-09T02:23:39Z")
Australia’s got pretty much the same blend ,Matt, with QEII on the coins and various historical figures on the notes. Liz was only recently removed from the one note she was on.
For thoise interested in who’s on the notes:
[http://www.rba.gov.au/poly/po\_who.html](http://www.rba.gov.au/poly/po_who.html)
Of course the coins all have cute animals on the reverse side, except for the $2 coin for some reason, which has a generic aboriginal man.
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### Author:  [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2001, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-on-your-currency/53721/4 "2001-02-09T02:32:34Z")
Here, there are 3 bills in use currently ( 😛 ), and on the 10,000 won bill is a picture of King Se-jung (spelling may not be correct)… he’s a Korean King from long ago who standardized (or invented, actually, IIRC) th Korean alphabet…
I have no idea who’s on the 1,000 won and 5,000 won bills (I can read the names; I just don’t know who they are/were).
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### Author:  [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2001, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-on-your-currency/53721/5 "2001-02-09T02:37:32Z")
If I remember right, the 10,000 Won note is the largest in circulation. This is less than 10 dollars U.S.
I could never figure out, when I was over there, why the largest bill in circulation was like, eight bucks.
I do know that people use some kind of bank “draft” or some similar financial instrument in place of large bills. Seems kinda wacky.
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### Author:  [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2001, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-on-your-currency/53721/6 "2001-02-09T02:57:08Z")
Japan’s bills all have pictures of writer/scientist/philosophers from the last 150 years or so (no people on the coins).
1000 yen - Soseki Natsume, author
5000 yen - Inazou Nitobe, philosopher and writer
10000 yen - Yukichi Fukuzawa, agricultural scientist, philosopher, some politics.
–sublight.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2001, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-on-your-currency/53721/7 "2001-02-09T03:11:48Z")
Obviously it’s pretty difficult to have the current sovereign on US currency, since they’re only there for a maximum of eight years, unlike the Queen. Also, the [US mint](http://www.usmint.gov/) and the [BEP](http://www.bep.treas.gov/) has a policy against putting living people on currency.
> [@](#):
>
> The law prohibits portraits of living persons from appearing on Government Securities. Therefore, the portraits on our currency notes and coins are of deceased persons whose places in history the American people know well. The designs shown on our coins have changed at different times for different denominations.
It should be noted that US currency also has many historical buildings and monuments, such as the Lincoln Memorial on the $5, the US treasury building on the $10, the White House on the $20, and the US Capitol on the $50.
A painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence graces the back of the no-longer made Jefferson $2 bill.
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### Author:  [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2001, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-on-your-currency/53721/8 "2001-02-09T04:06:48Z")
The UK has both. (And the historical figure on the new 10-pound notes is Charles Darwin, which makes me very, very happy. Alas, it could never happen here.)
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### Author:  [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2001, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-on-your-currency/53721/9 "2001-02-09T04:09:09Z")
Speaking of two dollar bills, you have to check this out…
[http://www.milk.com/wall-o-shame/two\_dollars.html](http://www.milk.com/wall-o-shame/two_dollars.html)
I still love reading this after years and years!
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2001, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-on-your-currency/53721/10 "2001-02-09T04:15:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> A painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence graces the back of the no-longer made Jefferson $2 bill.
BZZZZZ!. Wrong! But thanks for playing!
Sorry if that seems flippant. We still print the $2 bill in the US. You just don’t see 'em 'cause nobody wants 'em. Much like the dollar coin. Outside of Major metropolitan areas, most folk in the US don’t give a hoot about a dollar coin.