# Whose portrait would you put on your banknotes? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 24, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-portrait-would-you-put-on-your-banknotes/664381 "2013-07-24T15:08:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-portrait-would-you-put-on-your-banknotes/664381/41 "2013-07-25T20:36:14Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > No Mitt Romney? > > (sorry…carry on…) Not Caymanian. And not dead. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-portrait-would-you-put-on-your-banknotes/664381/42 "2013-07-25T20:42:00Z")
[Chief Standing Bear](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_Bear) and Justice Earl Warren would be fine choices. ---
**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 25, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-portrait-would-you-put-on-your-banknotes/664381/43 "2013-07-25T20:43:40Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > And not dead. Politically? ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-portrait-would-you-put-on-your-banknotes/664381/44 "2013-07-25T21:45:10Z")
I wouldn’t change the $100 bill. Supposed to be Benjamin Franklin but looks more like Jack Benny to me. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-portrait-would-you-put-on-your-banknotes/664381/45 "2013-07-25T22:39:13Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Samuel Morse A bad idea. Sure he was a good inventor and painter. But are you familiar with his political ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-portrait-would-you-put-on-your-banknotes/664381/46 "2013-07-26T08:34:05Z")
Alfred E Newman ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-portrait-would-you-put-on-your-banknotes/664381/47 "2013-07-26T23:09:36Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > However, if you were given carte blanche over your nation’s banknote design, whose portrait would you feature? Would you even put a portrait at all? Just to make a change, I’d move away from portraits of people. I’m British; would like to show, on the reverse side of different denominations of banknotes (keeping the monarch’s portrait on the front side) – pictures of various British technical / architectural inventions / achievements of note. I’m a fan of railways and steam locomotives, so would like one denomination to show a British steam loco of some “date, shape or make”. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-portrait-would-you-put-on-your-banknotes/664381/48 "2013-07-26T23:28:56Z")
> [@maplekiwi](#): > > Love the idea of Jane Austen on the notes. Me too. I think it’s a great choice. > [@](#): > > He will have been dead for 10 years next year, but it’s worth noting that Sir Edmund Hilary started appearing our notes when he was still alive. I also believe it’s one of the few times a living person (besides the reigning monarch) has appeared on the currency of a western nation while they are still alive, too. As for me, I’d like to see Captain James Cook, Abel Tasman, John Simpson Kirkpatrick and Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith on Australian banknotes, FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-portrait-would-you-put-on-your-banknotes/664381/49 "2013-07-27T09:45:59Z")
(maplekiwi wrote: “Love the idea of Jane Austen on the notes.”) > [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Me too. I think it’s a great choice. Not me. I hate the bloody woman – find her novels completely unreadable (and I’ve tried, and tried, with them). When the JA £10 note comes out, I’ll want to boycott it: change any that I get, for fivers, as quickly as possible. ---
**Author:** ![nion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nion)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-portrait-would-you-put-on-your-banknotes/664381/50 "2013-07-28T04:02:00Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Hey, what about Jim Henson!?!? That Opie Cunningham guy? Chuck Jones? Chuck Berry? Berry Gordy? Gordon from Sesame Street? Jim Henson was what first popped into my head! 🙂 So I guess my collection would be childhood luminaries: Jim Henson, Walt Disney, Mr. Rogers, Dr. Seuss, Mr. Wizard, etc. The reverse could feature what they were best known for (i.e. Mr. Wizard with a child performing an experiment) with a short blurb about their life, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-portrait-would-you-put-on-your-banknotes/664381/51 "2013-07-28T04:24:11Z")
Well, Canada’s stuck with the monarch on the coins. But she’s also inexplicably on the $20, and there should immediately be replaced with Frederick Banting. The other ones are fine. If I was redesigning American currency: $1: Washington $2: Jefferson (meh, why not) $5: Lincoln $10: Martin Luther King Jr. $20: Norman Borlaug $50: Grant’s underrated, keep him $100: Armstrong ---
**Author:** ![feppytweed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/feppytweed/32/4280_2.png) [@feppytweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/feppytweed)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2013, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-portrait-would-you-put-on-your-banknotes/664381/52 "2013-07-29T00:42:06Z")
I don’t really see the need for any faces on currency. I like the comment upthread about something useful, like a conversion chart or something, but I would be fine with the front being a variation of the back. Just a big font with the amount. No need to idolize anyone, IMO. Just let currency be functional. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-portrait-would-you-put-on-your-banknotes/664381/53 "2013-08-03T13:04:19Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > Since U.S. currency runs in $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 denominations, I would put the current seven… Seven, you say? Well, that’s easy, then: Destiny, Death, Destruction, Dream, Desire, Despair, and Delirium we could start calling them Ddollar bills or Endless money. 😃 –G! There’s no such thing as a one-sided coin. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-portrait-would-you-put-on-your-banknotes/664381/54 "2013-08-03T13:58:42Z")
Wayne Gretzky on the $100 Neil Young on the 50 Les Stroud on 20 Robert Bateman on the $10 Bubbles from TPB on the $5 ---
**Author:** ![Obnoxious\_Hood\_Ornament](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3be4f8/32.png) [@Obnoxious\_Hood\_Ornament](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obnoxious_Hood_Ornament)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-portrait-would-you-put-on-your-banknotes/664381/55 "2013-08-04T17:16:36Z")
Rich “Uncle” Pennybags on all bills, in various poses. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Made_French_Toast_For_You)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-portrait-would-you-put-on-your-banknotes/664381/56 "2013-08-04T17:47:55Z")
$1 - Joey Bada$$ 2 - Travi Scott $5 - A$AP Rocky $10 - Too $hort $20 - Ke$ha $50 - Ma$e $100 - Curren$y [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-portrait-would-you-put-on-your-banknotes/664381.md?page=2)