$100-dollar bills that could be worth up to $2 million
The most expensive banknotes in the history of the United States are these $100 bills that could be worth up to $2 million each. Why are they so valuable?
Billions of dollar bills circulate every day in the United States, and experts on numismatics- the study or collection of coins and banknotes- recommend that people take a close look at their cash every so often because they might be in possession of rare specimens that are worth much more than their face value.
There are bills with several variations of serial numbers, from ladders to binary to solid numbers, which can secure you a small fortune. However, there are specimens that go beyond just rarity and can increase their value to unbelievable amounts. Such is the case of the famous gold certificates.
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What are gold certificates?
Gold certificates have a long tradition in the world of finance. In the past, these were used because moving large amounts of gold was physically a challenge. According to KOMO News, gold certificates began to be printed in the United States in 1863, “following the enormous amounts of gold discovered and subsequently deposited throughout the country at the height of the Civil War.” This allowed gold certificates to be used as everyday currency.
Gold certificates are now extremely rare to see, and any copy of those printed before 1880 is particularly considered to be of high value. Gold certificates worth $100 are catalogued as the most expensive and valuable bills in the history of the country.
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These are the $100 bills that could be worth up to $2 million
The first series of $100 certified gold bills was issued in 1863. These are characterized by printing in black ink on gold-tinted paper, and bear the phrase “One hundred dollars in gold coin”.
Currently, only three known specimens of this note exist. Two of them are in the Smithsonian Museum, leaving only one in the hands of a private owner. In April 2013, the only specimen not in museums sold for $2,115,000 at Heritage Auctions, becoming the $100 bill with the highest value in the history of the United States.