Michelangelo’s David is undoubtedly a masterpiece, but would the artist have been as adept with a chisel were he working on a tiny copper penny instead of a giant slab of marble? Using a magnifying scope, artist Shaun Hughes managed to skillfully turn Lincoln’s head into a remarkably detailed skull.
The Royal Mint released 300 million new one pound coins into circulation on Tuesday. The money’s packed with cutting edge anti-counterfeiting measures, including one that British authorities won’t even talk about. Is it a coincidence that this happened the day before British Prime Minister Teresa May triggered the…
Earlier today we noted the recent outcry in Britain over the country’s new £5 note, which is made using a small amount of animal fat. But the British aren’t the only ones with meat money. Canada’s bank notes have tallow as well.
A time capsule sealed by a bank in 1916 was opened in Saratoga Springs, New York this week. And it has many of the things you’d expect—like some photos of the town, a letter from the president of the bank in 1916, and some old coins. But one artifact stuck out as peculiar to the onlookers of 2016: A 10-cent bill.
When the Fed constantly replaces old, tattered dollar bills with new, crispy cash, millions of notes get pulled out of circulation while new dollar bills get put in circulation. So what happens to all that old money? It gets shredded. But then what?
If you have ever attempted a life as a counterfeiter, or done a stupid school project where you tried to print your own money, you already know this: you can’t make a copy of any type of bill, no matter the denomination. For older bills, it was because of the Eurion constellation, which is an order of dots that…
On paper the Canadian dollar is struggling to keep up with US currency and doesn’t seem like a wise investment. But when you discover that the Canadian Mint now makes an entire line of Star Trek-themed collectible currency, including this delta-shaped gold coin, how could you possibly resist buying them all up?
If you went to Hawaii during World War II, you probably noticed something a little funny about the money. Every greenback had a big bold “HAWAII” plastered across it. Why? In case of a Japanese invasion, of course.
Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe has caused that country’s currency to be worth virtually nothing. So the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is ditching their local currency in favor of US dollars. Soon Zimbabwe’s cash will be used only in the American dadjoke economy, where being a trillionaire and meaning it is the height of comedy.
The German Mark. Lithuanian Litas. Estonian Kroon. Irish Pound. Slovenian Tolar. Portuguese Escudo. Greek Drachma. Slovak Koruna. Maltese Lira. Finnish Markka. Dutch Guilder. Spanish Peseta. Luxembourgish Franc. Belgian Franc. Italian Lira. Cypriot Pound. Austrian Schilling. French Franc. Latvian Lats. All got…
There's an online movement underway to remove our genocidal 7th Prez, Andrew Jackson, from his place of honor on the $20 bill. One advocacy group believes a woman deserves the spot on the $20, since the only lady currently in circulation is Sacagawea on the $1 coin, and all Americans hate dollar coins.
Doodle-driven Canadians have been cleverly defacing their five dollar bills for years, turning the portrait of former Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier into the pop-culture figures he eerily resembles: Spock (seen here) and Harry Potter's Severus Snape.
U.S. currency does change from time to time, but the basic design — green/black background, a portrait on one side, and a pretty picture on the other — has stayed boring for decades. These concept designs for currency, though, are anything but boring.
Did you know that only five percent of Americans travel abroad each year? Beat the odds, get a passport and go see the world. It's easier than you might think. Here's our starter guide for the new traveler.
What happens to old paper money that's too worn out to be used? It's often recycled and made into everything from dog beds to packing materials. But the Philadelphia Federal Reserve office does something even more unique: They send the old currency to local power plants, where it's burned for electricity.
While U.S. currency does change a little on occasional, the basic design of the notes has stayed fairly constant: green/black background, a portrait on one side, and a pretty picture on the other. These concepts take that classic design, and turn it on its head.
With last week's news that Oslo had pulled out of the 2022 Winter Olympics, I got really sad—mostly that we wouldn't see the beautiful identity from the architects at Snøhetta brought to life. But here's a consolation: Snøhetta won a competition to redesign Norway's currency. And the pixelated landscapes they designed…
It seems like every week there's a new argument to remove the penny from circulation. But did you know that the U.S. once had a half-cent? When the U.S. stopped making them in 1857, they had the buying power of over a dime by today's standards. Which makes the most excellent case to scrap the penny, right now. And…
For years, the Secret Service has been tracking down the legendary "Russian-Israeli Note," one of the most sophisticated and common fake Benjamins ever made. This high-tech international ring was finally busted and indicted this week, thanks to years of good old-fashioned surveillance and legwork.
Bitcoin may have emerged from a shadowy corner of the internet, but soon, it'll have its own government affairs office in Washington. According to the crypto-currency's biggest advocates, who assembled at the second North American Bitcoin Conference this weekend in Chicago, Bitcoin is all grown up. In reality, it's…
