10 cool things to know about U.S currency

1. According to the Federal Reserve System, the average lifespan of a Federal Reserve Note is as follows:

$ 1 …18 months; $ 5 … 2 Years; $ 10… 3 Years; $ 20…4 Years; $ 50 …9 Years; $100 …9 Years

2. How did the “$” sign come into being. The most widely accepted theory is that the symbol for the Spanish pieces of eight – “P’s” – was in vogue in the US and the “S” over time was written over the “P” and thus the “$” symbol evolved. In fact, the “$” symbol has been used before the U.S dollar was adopted in 1785.
3. Of the close to 40 million notes produced a day, almost 95% of them replace existing notes. The total value of the notes produced is around $550 million and almost half of them are of $1 denomination.

4. Paper money first made its appearance in America in 1862 during the Civil War; back in those days they had notes of 5 cents, 1 cent, 25 cents, and 50 cents.

5. You’d need around 32 years to fully spend $1 billion in $1 notes at the rate of a dollar/second.

6. A note is a resilient mix of paper and linen which can take around 4000 double folds i.e. fold it in half and then fold it the other way, before it tears.

7. The 100 dollar bill has the distinction of being the largest note in circulation since 1969.

8. The legend “In God We Trust” is a fairly recent one and is being used on all currency since 1963.

9. For all those who are under the impression that the car depicted on the back of the $10 note is a Model “T” Ford, it isn’t. It is an imaginary car.

10. The only woman to have had her portrait on a US currency note is Martha Washington. Her portrait was there on the face of the $1 Silver Certificate of 1886 and also 1891.

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