# Why are there no bills large than a $100 bill?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 28, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641 "2010-12-28T20:00:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/21 "2010-12-28T22:08:32Z")
> [@Musicat](#):
>
> How do you do that?
[Counterfeit detector pen](http://www.howstuffworks.com/question212.htm).
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### Author:  [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/22 "2010-12-28T22:26:30Z")
I wouldn’t be shocked if the 500 euro note eventually was phased out. I read something once which suggested 90% of 500 euro notes that have been issued are in the hands of organized crime.
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/23 "2010-12-28T22:40:00Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#):
>
> I wouldn’t be shocked if the 500 euro note eventually was phased out. I read something once which suggested 90% of 500 euro notes that have been issued are in the hands of organized crime.
I wasn’t musing on the possibility of just the 500 Euro note being phased out, but referring to the pronouncements by some financial pundits that the Euro as a currency is doomed.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/24 "2010-12-29T00:24:28Z")
> [@Markxxx](#):
>
> As a person who spent four weeks this past Christmas, in a computer store, checking people out, and having to routinely count thousands of dollars in twenty dollar bills, I long for a five hundred or thousand dollar bill 🙂
So, can you get high sniffing those things?
Seriously, who buys a computer with 20s? If I for some reason were going to get money from the bank for it, I’d at least get 100s.
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### Author:  [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/25 "2010-12-29T00:33:57Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#):
>
> I have to verify $20 bills. :mad:
Marginally OT: The last time I was in the US, many shopkeepers/cashiers seemed to think that a $20 note was A Lot Of Money and I was frequently asked if I had anything smaller when I used them to buy stuff worth less than about $6 or so, which seemed odd because- well, $20 isn’t that large a denomination, surely?
And back OT: I suspect part of the problem with a $500 note (besides the excellent issues already raised regarding counterfeiting and legitimate uses of the note) would be: How many shops would actually have change for a $500 note? Sure, high-end jewellers and trendy designer boutiques in fashionable parts of town, but I doubt the local supermarket wants to keep enough change on hand for people buying their groceries with $500 or $1000 notes. Especially when things like EFTPOS and credit cards are so prevalent these days.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/26 "2010-12-29T00:39:31Z")
Few people pay cash for large (legal) purchases, and I imagine not too many business would accept it. I wonder how often anyone used a $100,000 bill.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/27 "2010-12-29T00:45:01Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#):
>
> Marginally OT: The last time I was in the US, many shopkeepers/cashiers seemed to think that a $20 note was A Lot Of Money and I was frequently asked if I had anything smaller when I used them to buy stuff worth less than about $6 or so, which seemed odd because- well, $20 isn’t that large a denomination, surely?
Where were you? Given that ATMs spit out $20 bills, they are very common, and I’ve never had an issue with them. Your point about spending $500 bills is well taken - I suspect your average vendor would be extremely suspicious about giving large amounts of change from one.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/28 "2010-12-29T00:54:47Z")
> [@panache45](#):
>
> Few people pay cash for large (legal) purchases, and I imagine not too many business would accept it. I wonder how often anyone used a $100,000 bill.
NO one ever used a $100,000 bill. They were only for interbank transfers. Bank to bank. No public need apply.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/29 "2010-12-29T00:56:28Z")
And, no matter what the Feds say—$1000 and $500 bills were withdrawn starting in 1969 to prevent drug dealers from having it easy. Period.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/30 "2010-12-29T00:56:46Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#):
>
> Wilson was on the [$100,000 bill](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US100000dollarsbillobverse.jpg). There was no $50,000 denomination.
:smack:
(Still, of all the presidents, why WILSON???)
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### Author:  [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/31 "2010-12-29T00:57:08Z")
> [@Voyager](#):
>
> Where were you? Given that ATMs spit out $20 bills, they are very common, and I’ve never had an issue with them. Your point about spending $500 bills is well taken - I suspect your average vendor would be extremely suspicious about giving large amounts of change from one.
Los Angeles and Anaheim, which surprised me because you’d think that $20 notes would be very common in those areas. But I was asked often enough and at completely different stores and food/drink places for me to raise my eyebrow and think “Seriously?”.
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### Author:  [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/32 "2010-12-29T01:17:31Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#):
>
> Los Angeles and Anaheim, which surprised me because you’d think that $20 notes would be very common in those areas. But I was asked often enough and at completely different stores and food/drink places for me to raise my eyebrow and think “Seriously?”.
It was probably because they didn’t want to run short of change ($1s and $5s). Because \*\*everybody \*\*pays with the $20 bills they get from the ATM, lots of places have a tough time keeping enough smaller bills in the till. You buy something that costs 6 bucks, they have to give you 4 ones and a ten (or 2 fives). Repeat that transaction several dozen times and you can see why the retailers start asking if you might have smaller bills you can use instead.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/33 "2010-12-29T01:22:43Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#):
>
> [Counterfeit detector pen](http://www.howstuffworks.com/question212.htm).
Those are worthless. Nowadays people are bleaching bills and reprinting them with higher denominations. Doing so means they are using the correct paper (so the pen will tell you it’s good), it also means the bill still has a strip and watermark, so casually holding the bill up to the light will make it look good as well. In my store, the cashiers are required to not only see the strip but actually read what it says. A hundred dollar bill will say “100” on the strip. If there’s still a concern they can check the watermark (which should have the same person as the picture on the bill) and also check for red and blue fibers in the paper.
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### Author:  [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/34 "2010-12-29T01:46:57Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#):
>
> :smack:
>
> (Still, of all the presidents, why WILSON???)
He probably gets a few props for being a wartime president. McKinley, I guess, gets props for being assassinated. Cleveland is the one I find really baffling…
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/35 "2010-12-29T02:22:53Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> > [@Originally Posted by KneadToKnow](#):
> >
> > Counterfeit detector pen.
>
> Those are worthless. Nowadays people are bleaching bills and reprinting them with higher denominations. Doing so means they are using the correct paper (so the pen will tell you it’s good), it also means the bill still has a strip and watermark, so casually holding the bill up to the light will make it look good as well. In my store, the cashiers are required to not only see the strip but actually read what it says. A hundred dollar bill will say “100” on the strip. If there’s still a concern they can check the watermark (which should have the same person as the picture on the bill) and also check for red and blue fibers in the paper.
Which is why I asked. If ever you get a bill that fails the pen test, just spray it with hair spray and it will become “genuine.” Conversely, if you spray a genuine bill with starch, it will become “counterfeit.”
[Here’s an experiment that shows it.](http://calladus.blogspot.com/2006/09/testing-counterfeit-money-detector-pen.html)
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### Author:  [@Diamonds02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diamonds02)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/36 "2010-12-29T03:03:30Z")
Re: mentions up thread…
Why are big legal items seldomly purchased with cash?
I have done so in the past, and will continue doing so in the future.
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### Author:  [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/37 "2010-12-29T03:21:27Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#):
>
> Re: mentions up thread…
>
> Why are big legal items seldomly purchased with cash?
>
> I have done so in the past, and will continue doing so in the future.
Because actually getting two thousand dollars (or however much the item costs) in cash with which to purchase a home theatre system or a fridge or whatever is significantly more effort than paying for said Big Ticket Item with a credit or EFTPOS card.
I’ve worked in retail a long time and yes, there are enough people who buy expensive stuff like computers, flat screen TVs, and whitegoods in cash that I don’t bat an eyelid at it or wonder why they have that sort of money in negotiable currency on them, but for the most part people buying expensive stuff pay for it with plastic and not banknotes.
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### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/38 "2010-12-29T03:51:17Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#):
>
> Re: mentions up thread…
>
> Why are big legal items seldomly purchased with cash?
>
> I have done so in the past, and will continue doing so in the future.
Why on earth would someone do that? I can either carry around thousands of dollars in cash just in case I see a laptop, flat screen TV or Rolex watch I like. Or I can carry a single card that is accepted nearly everywhere and can be replaced if lost or stolen with no financial risk.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/39 "2010-12-29T04:00:41Z")
Wilson’s on those bills, I’ve read, because he signed the Act of Congress establishing the Federal Reserve. Grover Cleveland was a good, honest President who doesn’t get the respect he deserves today, IMHO.
If you wanted really big bills, you should’ve gone to Zimbabwe. Given their grotesque hyperinflation in the early 2000s, look what you needed to buy three eggs: [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/28/Hundred\_billion\_dollars\_and\_eggs.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/28/Hundred_billion_dollars_and_eggs.jpg)
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-bills-large-than-a-100-bill/565641/40 "2010-12-29T04:03:27Z")
Thanks for letting me know about the counterfeit detector pens, y’all.
Sadly, I am in no position to tell my employer that they’re wasting time.
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