This is my top 10 favorite banknotes!
10. Canada / 100 Dollar Bill
The new series Canadian 100 dollar bill is a very beautiful bill, being made of polymer and containing a transparent window in order to make conterfeiting difficult. The denominations in the series are each printed a different color, with the 100 being printed in an attractive gold. This bill is the only bill in my list that is not the highest denomination in ciculation in its country, as there is a Canadian 1,000 dollar bill that was pink in color and featured the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. However the bill was discontinued and is not part of this new series. The 100 dollar bill has the portrait of former Robert Borden, Prime Minister of Canada during World War I.
In the 1970s, Turkey was undergoing a severe period of inflation and devaluation of their currency, the lira, that higher and higher denominations of bills had to be printed in order to allow citizens to carry enough money to do basic grocery shopping. In turkey, higher and higher lira bills were being printed, finally cummulating with the 20,000,000 bill. The value amount is deceptive though, as with many bills during hyperinflation, the bill does not actually have very much purchasing power at all. However, the high number does make the bill appear striking and attractive. All bills of the lira show the picture of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the first president of the Republic of Turkey. The old lira was eventually redenominated and exchanged for new lira and so the numbers on bills in the country returned to normal levels and this bill faded out of circulation.
8. North Korea / 5,000 Won Bill
North Korea is not exactly known for being an economically prosperous nation. The won, their currency, is hardly used by regular citizens in the country. However, their bills do look rather nice, even though the idealistic images on each bill clearly have intent of serving as propaganda to the carriers. The highest denomination, the 5,000 won bill, reflects the enormous cult of personality surrounding the nations founder, Kim-Il-Sung, appearing like a shrine to their glorious leader. Evidently, there are laws in North Korea against intentionally damaging the bill, as it is illegal to desecrate the image of Kim-Il-Sung. Despite the creepy atmosphere surronding the nation and it's money, their banknotes do look attractive, especially the 5,000 bill.
7. Singapore / 10,000 Dollar Bill
Though I'm not really a big fan of the overall design of the bill, this bill is notable for being one of the most valuable banknotes in the world in terms of real value that is still printed by their country's government and used daily by citizens. Though there are bills around the world with amounts that far exceed 10,000 the singapore dollar is one of the currencies with the largest purchasing power and so a bill worth 10,000 is a very valuable piece of paper to carry around. One thing I do like about this bill is the nice gold color, part of a series of bills that are each a different color based on their value.
This bill is the opposite of the Singapore bill to me. The bill is virtually worthless in Laos despite being the largest denomination of their currency, the kip, as citizens tend to use foreign currencies in the country rather than their official one. However I do like the design quite a bit, with the red and yellow background looking as a top denomination bill should. Plus, in the weirdest way, 100,000 is such a satisfying number.
5. Japan / 10,000 Yen Bill
The Japanese yen is one of the most internationally traded currencies in the world and their banknotes look awesome. Thus I do very much like the highest denomination, the 10,000 yen bill. The portrait is of Fukuzawa Yukichi, a teacher who founded Keio University in Japan.
4. European Union / 500 Euro Bill
The European Union is considered one of the largest economies in the world today, if not the largest. The bills of the euro are some of my favorites, deviating from the standard practice of having famous figures on the obverse side of the bill and instead having the denominations depict famous architecture styles in europe throughout its history, with higher bills having more recent denominations. Their highest, the 500, shows modernist european 20th century architecture. Due to the bills rarity, they are often called "Bin Ladens" due to the fact that everyone knows about them yet they are hardly seen. Interestingly, when Osama bin Laden was killed last year, he had one of these bills stitched into his clothing.
3. Hong Kong / 1,000 Dollar Bill
Hong Kong has some very amazing looking banknotes, being made of polymer and having a very modern looking design. Like many currencies, each bill is printed in a different color and in Hong Kong, the highest bill is printed in gold, a practice that I'm a fan of. Great looking bill that reflects its very large value with it's grandiose appearance.
Introducing, the world's most awesomely preposterious nominal amount ever printed on a piece of currency. It's difficult to tell at first glance but the amount reads "1 Millard" (which means in European longscale what we call 1 Billion in the US) of a unit called "B.-Pengo" (stands for "Billion Pengo" which in European longscale is what we call 1 Trillion in the US). So it is in effect, 1 Billion x 1 Trillion Pengo, or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (Sextillion) Pengo. The reason for such a rediculous amount is that at the time this was printed, Hungary was experiencing the most severe hyperinflation ever witnessed in an economy thanks to Hungary being ravaged by World War II, with prices across the country doubling every 15 hours. Thus in a matter of days, prices reached astronomical amounts and all the money in the country became less valuable than dirt unless higher and higher denominations of pengo were pumped into circulation, which only further aggrivated the hyperinflation. The catastrophic economic mess eventually produced this absurd bill.
1. United States / 100,000 Dollar Bill
Finally, my favorite bill is the highest denomination in my home country of the United States, the 100,000 dollar bill. It is arguably the most valuable piece of currency of all time, having a face value of 100,000 and being worth...well...100,000 US dollars. This bill is extrordinary rare (only around 10 or so are known to exist today) and can pretty much only be seen in museums or in some cases casinos that managed to get a hold of one. These were printed by the federal reserve purely for the intent of being used when federal reserve banks had to deliver stellar amounts of money to each other and weren't ever released to the general public for regular use. The design just radiates pure value, having more zeroes than just about any other bill that I've seen. The portrait is of former President Woodrow Wilson, mostly due to the fact that he was the president who signed the federal reserve into existence. My favorite bill of all time!
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