Money has been used around the globe for many centuries. People in the United States use them for more than 220 years! In the beginning, paper money was very rare because there was not technology that can create long-lasting and durable paper money. This is the reason why authorities have decided to use small coins. Most of these coins were made from metals like silver and gold even though they had some other metals too. This means that money back then had real value.
The exclusive use of coins lasted until early 1860’s in America. This is the period of American history when the Federal Department of Treasury announced that they will share paper money. This was a very practical decision because as we all know this was the period when America was at civil war and it was a little bit difficult to use metals to create new coins.
Today, people use both metal coins and paper money. A lot of people think about money, but not about their form, shape and history. The fact is that there are some interesting facts that each of us should read about and we will present some of these incredible facts in this article.
To start with, if you have analyzed small coins, you’ve probably noticed that most of them have round form that ends with ridges. It turns out that these ridges were used in order to prevent counterfeiting money. Back in those days, individuals and organizations didn’t have a chance to use counterfeit detection equipment like the ones produced today by many companies such as iTestCash. On the other hand, the counterfeiters were not very smart either even though they have tried to produce fake money from the moment money emerged in the market. As previously mentioned, in the beginning, coins were made from precious metals like silver and gold and they were worth exactly as the amount they bear on them. For instance, a two dollar silver coin was made from silver that is worth two dollars. Some people started removing parts of the coins so they can make them less valuable, but with the use of these ridges, this trick was busted.
According to official statistics, counterfeiters are especially fond of the 20-dollar bill. There are special agencies that combat counterfeiting. The same statistics show that there are more than 10 million worth fake money circulating in businesses at any moment. The main focus is on paper money because coins have low denominations and not worth the effort.
Although modern paper money are made from high quality materials and designed to last, the truth is that a standard one-dollar banknote will wear after one year and 6 months of use. Of course, these bills are used most frequently and as a matter of fact almost 50% of all bills are 1-dollar bills.
Finally, the design of US dollars can’t include images of living persons. When it comes to the persons found on dollars, it is good to know that a US coin once had the image of a Spanish Queen.
There is no doubt that there are many other interesting facts related to one of the strongest currencies in the world and the once we’ve shared in this article say a lot about the greatness of dollars.
