Large denominations of United States currency

Large denominations of United States currency greater than were circulated by the United States Treasury until 1969. Since then, U.S. dollar banknotes have been issued in seven denominations: $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $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, authorized by legislation dated May 10, 1780. Virginia 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 ($1,000 notes authorized by an act dated June 30, 1812). During the American Civil War, 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. In total, 11 different types of U.S. currency were issued in high-denomination notes across nearly 20 different series dates.

<!-- The high-denomination bills (together with the through denominations) were issued in 1929 in the smaller size that remains the format to this day. The designs were as follows:

: William McKinley, 25th U.S. President (1897–1901)
: Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th U.S. President (1885–89; 1893–97)
: James Madison, fourth U.S. President (1809–17)
: Salmon P. Chase, sixth U.S. Chief Justice (1864–73)
: Woodrow Wilson, 28th U.S. President (1913–21) -->The obverse designs of United States banknotes generally depict either historical figures, allegorical 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 certificates ($100; United States five-hundred-dollar bill|; United States one-thousand-dollar bill|; United States ten-thousand-dollar bill|; and United States one hundred-thousand-dollar bill|) were issued after the gold standard was repealed and gold was compulsorily confiscated by order of President Franklin Roosevelt on March 9, 1933 (see United States Executive Order 6102).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) 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 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. 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 systems has made large-scale cash transactions mostly obsolete. Concerns about counterfeiting and the use of cash for unlawful activities such as drug trafficking and money laundering have also 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." In June 2024, Representative Paul Gosar introduced a bill into congress to force the Federal Reserve to restart issuance of $500 bills and adopt a new design that would feature then former President Donald Trump in its portrait. Subsequently, in 2025 a bill was introduced in Congress to issue a $250 note, also with Trump's portrait.

High-denomination banknote issuing data

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="white-space:nowrap;"

|+ Key to high denomination banknote type abbreviations

! rowspan="2"| Abbr

! rowspan="2"| Type

! rowspan="2"| Size

! rowspan="2"| Series dates

! colspan="5" class="unsortable"| High denomination series date

! rowspan="2" class="unsortable"| Comments

! scope="row"| LT

| Legal tender

| Large

| 1862–1923

| 1862 1863 1869 1874 1875 1878 1880

| 1862 1863 1869 1878 1880

| 1878

| –

! scope="row"| SC

| Silver certificate

| Large

| 1878–1923

| 1878 1880

| 1878 1880 1891

| –

! scope="row"| TN

| Treasury note

| Large

| 1890–1891

| 1891

| 1890 1891

| –

! scope="row"| NBN

| National bank note

| Large

| 1865–1875

| 1865 1875

| –

! scope="row"| FRN

| Federal reserve note

| Large

| 1914–1918

| 1918

| –

! scope="row"| NGBN

| National gold bank note

| Large

| 1870–1883

| 1870

| –

! scope="row"| GC

| Gold certificate

| Large

| 1865–1922

| 1865 1870 1875 1882 1922

| 1865 1870 1875 1882 1907 1922

| 1865 1870 1882 1888

| 1865 1870 1875 1882 1888 1900

| –

! scope="row"| FRN

| Federal reserve note

| Small

| 1928–present

| 1928 1934

| –

! scope="row"| GC

| Gold certificate

| Small

| 1928–1934

| 1928

| 1928 1934

| 1928

| 1928 1934

| 1934

Table of banknotes

The National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution contains the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (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.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+ High denomination United States banknotes

! scope="col" style="width:30px;"| Value

! scope="col" style="width:30px;"| Type

! scope="col" style="width:40px;"| Series

! scope="col" style="width:40px; "| Friedberg number

! scope="col" style="width:200px;" class="unsortable"| Image

! scope="col" style="width:300px;" | Portrait/engraving

! scope="col" style="width:250px;" class="unsortable"| Comments

! scope="row"|000500$500

|LT

|1862–1863

|Fr.183c

|200px|alt=$500 Legal Tender note, Series 1862–63, Fr.183c, depicting Albert Gallatin.

|Gallatin-AlbertAlbert Gallatin

|4 known (variety) 7 known (type)

! scope="row"|000500$500

|LT

|1869

|Fr.184

|200px|alt=$500 Legal Tender note, Series 1869, Fr.184, depicting John Quincy Adams.

|Adams-John-QuincyJohn Quincy Adams (Charles Burt) Justice (Stephen A. Schoff)

|4 known (only one privately)

! scope="row"|000500$500

|LT

|1874–1878

|Fr.185b

|200px|alt=$500 Legal Tender note, Series 1874–78, Fr.185b, depicting Joseph Mansfield.

|Mansfield-JosephJoseph Mansfield (Charles Burt)

! scope="row"|000500$500

|LT

|1880

|Fr.185l

|200px|alt=$500 Legal Tender note, Series 1880, Fr.185l, depicting Joseph Mansfield.

|Mansfield-JosephJoseph Mansfield (Charles Burt)| group="nb"

! scope="row"|000500$500

|CITN

|1864

|Fr.194a Proof

|200px|alt=$500 Compound Interest Treasury Note, Series 1864, Fr.194a, depicting a soldier and a ship.

|zStandard Bearer-New IronsidesStandard Bearer (left) (George D. Baldwin) New Ironsides (right) (James Smillie)

|Unknown

! scope="row"|000500$500

|SC

|1878

|Fr.345a

|200px|alt=$500 Silver Certificate, Series 1878, Fr.345a, depicting Charles Sumner

|Sumner-CharlesCharles Sumner (Charles Burt)

! scope="row"|000500$500

|SC

|1880

|Fr.345c

|200px|alt=$500 Silver Certificate, Series 1880, Fr.345c, depicting Charles Sumner

|Sumner-CharlesCharles Sumner (Charles Burt)

! scope="row"|000500$500

|NBN

|1865–1875

|Fr.464

|200px|alt=$500 National Bank Note, Original Series, Fr.464, vignette depicting Civilization; Sirius arriving in New York (obv); Surrender of General Burgoyne (rev).

|zCivilization-Sirius-BurgoyneCivilization (left) (James D. Smillie) Sirius arriving in New York (right) Surrender of General Burgoyne (rev) (Frederick Girsch)

|2 known (variety) 3 known (type)

! scope="row"|000500$500

|FRN

|1918

|Fr.1132d

|200px|alt=$500 Federal Reserve Note, Series 1918, Fr.1132d, depicting John Marshal.

|Marshall-JohnJohn Marshall (Charles Schlecht) de Soto discovering the Mississippi (rev) (Frederick Girsch)

|Unknown

! scope="row"|000500$500

|GC

|1870–1875

|Fr.1166i

|200px|alt=$500 Gold Certificate, Series 1870, Fr.1166i, depicting Abraham Lincoln

|Lincoln-AbrahamAbraham Lincoln (Charles Burt)

! scope="row"|000500$500

|GC

|1928

|Fr.2407

|200px|alt=$500 Gold Certificate, Series 1928, Fr.2407, depicting William McKinley.

|McKinley-WilliamWilliam McKinley (John Eissler)

! scope="row"|001000$1,000

|LT

|1869

|Fr.186f Proof

|Clinton-DeWittDeWitt Clinton

|2 known

! scope="row"|001000$1,000

|LT

|1878

|Fr.187a

|200px|alt=$1,000 Legal Tender note, Series 1878, Fr.187a, depicting DeWitt Clinton.

|Clinton-DeWittDeWitt Clinton Columbus in his study (Henry Gugler)

! scope="row"|001000$1,000

|LT

|1880

|Fr.187k

|200px|alt=$1,000 Legal Tender note, Series 1880, Fr.187k, depicting DeWitt Clinton.

|Clinton-DeWittDeWitt Clinton Columbus in his study (Henry Gugler)

! scope="row"|001000$1,000

|IBN

|1863

|Fr.206 Proof

|200px|alt=$1,000 Interest Bearing Note, Series 1863, Fr.206, depicting ships at battle and conquistadors.

|zShipsGuerriere and the Constitution (left) and Discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto (right)

|Unknown

! scope="row"|001000$1,000

|SC

|1878

|Fr.346a Proof

|200px|alt=$1000 Silver Certificate, Series 1878, Fr.346a, depicting William Marcy

|Marcy-WilliamWilliam Marcy (Charles Schlecht)

! scope="row"|001000$1,000

|SC

|1880

|Fr.346d

|200px|alt=$1000 Silver Certificate, Series 1880, Fr.346d, depicting William Marcy

|Marcy-WilliamWilliam Marcy (Charles Schlecht)

|2 known

! scope="row"|001000$1,000

|TN

|1891

|Fr.379c

|200px|alt=$1,000 Treasury note (1890–91), Series 1891, Fr.379c, depicting George Meade.

|Meade-GeorgeGeorge Meade (Charles Burt) United States Capitol (right) (James Smillie)

! scope="row"|001000$1,000

|FRN

|1918

|Fr.1133d

|200px|alt=$1,000 Federal Reserve Note, Series 1918, Fr.1133d, depicting Alexander Hamilton.

|Hamilton-AlexanderAlexander Hamilton (G.F.C. Smillie) Eagle (rev) (Marcus W. Baldwin)

! scope="row"|001000$1,000

|GC

|1863

|Fr.1166e Proof

|200px|alt=$1,000 Gold Certificate, Series 1865, Fr.1166e, with a vignette of an eagle and shield (left) and justice (bottom center).

|zEagle-shield-Justice-scalesEagle with shield or E Pluribus Unum (Charles Skinner)

|Unique Eagle (William Chorlton)

|All notes have been redeemed, none outstanding

! scope="row"|005000$5,000

|IBN

|1863

|Fr.202 Proof

|200px|alt=$5,000 Interest Bearing Note proof, Series 1863, Fr.202, with vignette Altar of Liberty.

|zAltar-of-LibertyThe Altar of Liberty (Louis Delnoce)

|Unknown Washington resigning his commission (rev) (Louis Delnoce)| group="nb"

! scope="row"|005000$5,000

|GC

|1863

|Fr.1166f Proof

|200px|alt=$5,000 Gold Certificate, Series 1865, Fr.1166f, with a vignette of an eagle and shield (left) and justice (bottom center).

|zEagle-Shield-FemaleEagle with shield or E Pluribus Unum (Charles Skinner)

|Two known

|All notes have been redeemed, none outstanding

|Was never in circulation; cannot legally be privately held other than uniface specimen examples

Large denominations of United States currency

Overview and history

Public versus institutional use

Passive retirement

High-denomination banknote issuing data

Table of banknotes

See also

References

Explanatory footnotes

Citations

General bibliography

External links