by Lynette Alice

Created on: October 02, 2009   Last Updated: October 08, 2009

With so much paper currency floating around most people assume they have seen it all. In fact many people think of the $2 bill as a rarity when in fact it is actually pretty common and easy to come by at any bank. The fact is there are bills out there that are far rarer than most people think, and even if they are no longer printed in some cases, most are still legal tender and to a limited degree still in the hands of the public. What follows is a quick guide to some rarely seen American paper currency that many people may not even know ever really existed.

For starters there is a $500 bill featuring President William McKinley, and if you think spending a $100 bill at some stores is a pain, you don't know true misery until you try dropping one of these on a cashier. Actually you would be a bit of a fool to try that. The $500 bill was last printed in 1934 (First printing in 1928) and are getting extremely difficult to find. Even if you did have a $500 bill spending it would actually cost you money as an example in excellent condition or better can easily sell for over $1,250 to a collector, and upward of $1,750 in near mint specimens and those in mint condition fetching thousands!

The $1,000 bill featuring President Grover Cleveland also went into circulation in 1928, however they were printed until 1946 actually making them far more common that the $500 bill. Even after the bill was discontinued and no more were printed, this was still legal tender for public use until 1969 when the Department of the Treasury began calling them all in from the banks and destroying them. Because they were recalled from the banks, the only ones that survived are those that were in the hands of private citizens. As such these have become hot collectibles with those in excellent condition selling far beyond their printed face value.

The $5,000 bill featuring a portrait of President James Madison went into press and circulation in 1934 and remained legal tender for public use until 1969. Like the $1,000 bill, these were recalled from the banks and destroyed by the treasury. For collectors this is nearly akin to the Holy Grail as it is believed that less than 500 still exist, a fair portion of them are held by the treasury for historical purposes, and a few dozen in museums for the same reason.

The $10,000 bill featuring a portrait of Treasury Secretary Chase is the Holy grail of American paper currency- to a degree. This is the largest bill the treasury ever printed for general

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