Large denominations of United States currency greater than were circulated by the

United States Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current U.S. government departments. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and ...

until 1969. Since then,

U.S. dollar The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

banknotes A banknote or bank notealso called a bill (North American English) or simply a noteis a type of paper money that is made and distributed ("issued") by a bank of issue, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commer ...

have been issued in seven denominations: $1, $2, $5, $10,

$20 There are many $20 banknotes, bills or coins, including: * Australian twenty-dollar note * Canadian twenty-dollar bill * New Zealand twenty-dollar note * United States twenty-dollar bill * Nicaraguan twenty-cordoba note * One of the banknotes o ...

, $50, and $100.

Overview and history

Large-denomination currency (i.e., banknotes with a face value of or higher) had been used in the United States since the late 18th century. The first note was issued by

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, authorized by legislation dated May 10, 1780.

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

quickly followed suit and authorized the printing of and notes on October 16, 1780, and notes on May 7, 1781. High-denomination treasury notes were issued; for example, during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

($1,000 notes authorized by an act dated June 30, 1812). During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, Confederate currency included and notes. The earliest (1861) federal banknotes included high-denomination notes such as three-year interest-bearing notes of , , and , authorized by Congress on July 17, 1861.United States Congress. Act of July, 17 1861 Chapter V. Washington D.C.: 1861
/ref> In total, 11 different types of U.S. currency were issued in high-denomination notes across nearly 20 different series dates. The

obverse The obverse and reverse are the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''obverse'' ...

designs of United States banknotes generally depict either

historical figures A historical figure is a significant person in history, who may have made important cultural, social, political, scientific or technological impacts on humanity. They are often widely known for their achievements, whether favourably or unfavoura ...

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughou ...

figures symbolizing significant concepts (e.g., liberty, justice), or both. The reverse designs range from abstract scroll-work with ornate denomination identifiers to reproductions of historical art works.

Public versus institutional use

Series 1934

gold certificate Of all the precious metals, gold is the most popular as an investment. Investors generally buy gold as a way of diversifying risk, especially through the use of futures contracts and derivatives. The gold market is subject to speculation and ...

s ($100; ; ; ; and ) were issued after the

gold standard A gold standard is a backed currency, monetary system in which the standard economics, economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the ...

was repealed and gold was compulsorily confiscated by order of President

Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

on March 9, 1933 (see United States Executive Order 6102). Thus, the series 1934 notes were used only for intragovernmental (i.e.,

Federal Reserve Bank A Federal Reserve Bank is a regional bank of the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States. There are twelve in total, one for each of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts that were created by the Federal Reserve A ...

) transactions and were not issued to the public. This series was discontinued in 1940. The series 1928 gold certificate reverse was printed in black and green (see History of the United States dollar).

Passive retirement

Although they remain legal tender in the United States, high-denomination bills were last printed on December 27, 1945, and were officially discontinued on July 14, 1969, by the

Federal Reserve System The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of ...

because of "lack of use". The lower production and notes had effectively disappeared well before then. Beginning in July 1969, the Federal Reserve began removing high-denomination currency from circulation and destroying any large bills returned by banks. , only 336 bills were known to exist, along with 342 bills, 165,372 bills and fewer than 75,000 bills (of over 900,000 printed). As to "cereal boxes" as a repository for ill-gotten

bribes Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official duty, to act contrar ...

, compare " Little Tin Box" in the musical ''

Fiorello! ''Fiorello!'' is a musical about New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia, a reform Republican, which debuted on Broadway in 1959, and tells the story of how La Guardia took on the Tammany Hall political machine. The book is by Jerome Weidman ...

''. Due to their rarity, collectors pay considerably more than the face value of the bills to acquire them, and some are in museums. These larger denomination bills were mainly used by banks and the federal government for large financial transactions, which was especially true for gold certificates from 1865 to 1934. The introduction of

electronic money Digital currency (digital money, electronic money or electronic currency) is any currency, money, or money-like asset that is primarily managed, stored or exchanged on digital computer systems, especially over the internet. Types of digital cu ...

systems has made large-scale cash transactions mostly obsolete, and concerns about

counterfeiting A counterfeit is a fake or unauthorized replica of a genuine product, such as money, documents, designer items, or other valuable goods. Counterfeiting generally involves creating an imitation of a genuine item that closely resembles the original ...

and the use of cash for unlawful activities such as

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, ...

and

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

has caused the U.S. government not to reissue any large-denomination currency. According to the U.S. Department of Treasury website, "The present denominations of our currency in production are , , , , , and . The purpose of the United States currency system is to serve the needs of the public and these denominations meet that goal. Neither the Department of the Treasury nor the Federal Reserve System has any plans to change the denominations in use today." However, in 2025 a partisan bill was introduced in Congress to issue a $250 note."Bill calls for $250 note to be issued with Trump portrait"
''Coin World'', March 11, 2025, accessed May 19, 2025

High-denomination banknote issuing data

Table of banknotes

The

National Numismatic Collection The National Numismatic Collection is the national coin cabinet of the United States. The collection is part of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. Overview The National Numismatic Collection comprises approxi ...

at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

contains the

Bureau of Engraving and Printing The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) is a government agency within the United States Department of the Treasury that designs and produces a variety of security products for the Federal Government of the United States, United States governm ...

(BEP) certified proofs and the Treasury Department collection of United States currency. Using a combination of proofs and issued notes, a nearly complete type set of high-denomination currency was compiled. Notably missing are several types of Compound and Interest Bearing Notes. Printed during the early to mid-1860s on very thin paper, these high-denomination notes are virtually non-existent. Their issuance (1861–65) predates the BEP's responsibility for U.S. currency (1870s), so very few proofs exist in the current archives.

References

Explanatory footnotes

Citations

General bibliography

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External links

Large Denominations
from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing
U.S. Department of the Treasury
{{Obsolete U.S. currency and coinage Banknotes of the United States