January 14, 2019

Welcome Trivia Today readers,

I'd like to welcome all of the Trivia Today readers who are now part of Random Facts. I'm sorry Trivia had to go, but we are going to have fun in Random, I promise. So today let's take a look at something that impacts our lives every single day.

In fact, some of our lives revolve around it, but the innocuous, ubiquitous bank notes that we hardly pay any attention to (unless we don't have any of them) have a much more bizarre history than most of us realize.

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Today's Random Fact:

It is suspected that the largest counterfeiter of U.S. currency is the nation of North Korea.

Martha Washington is the only woman whose portrait has appeared on a U.S. currency note. It appeared on the face of the $1 Silver Certificate of 1886 and 1891, and the back of the $1 Silver Certificate of 1896.

Bonus Fact:

The highest denomination bill ever printed was a $100,000 note that was printed from December 18, 1934 to January 9, 1935. It was used for transactions between Federal Reserve Banks. President Woodrow Wilson was pictured on the front.

The following bills have not been in print since 1946: $500 (William McKinley); $1,000 (Grover Cleveland); $5,000 (James Madison); and $10,000 (Salmon P. Chase, former Treasury Secretary).

The highest current denomination is the $100 bill.