The world of money is strange and unusual. For many centuries, mankind has invented various means of payment, trying to reflect in their design the features of the state that released them.
Banknotes are one of the few things in the world that is of interest to almost everyone. But not everyone thinks how interesting banknotes of different countries differ in interesting numismatic features.
For example, have you ever asked such a strange question: "What is the largest bill in the world?" Moreover, these may be different characteristics, from the actual size of the banknote to its face value.
The biggest bill: a bit of history
According to the official data of historians, the largest banknote in the world was in circulation in ancient China during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1399). These banknotes were called guan. The size of the bill of 1 guan exceeded the size of a modern A4 sheet (33 by 23 cm).
Scientists managed to set the banknote sizes so precisely thanks to a unique find. Such a bill, well preserved, was found inside an ancient Chinese wooden sculpture.
In addition to the significant size and age of the preserved bill, a unique method of its manufacture. Hand-made paper from mulberry bark was used as the basis for the largest bill in the world. Images on the banknote were applied using a carved wooden stencil, this ensured the identity of banknotes.
An interesting warning printed at the bottom of the bill to potential counterfeiters that counterfeiting money was punished quite radically - by cutting off the head.
Banknote with many zeros
The denomination with the largest face value in the world is the penge, which was in circulation in Hungary since 1945. It owes its fame to severe hyperinflation, which is why this note has served for a little over a year.
Over this short period, the face value of the bill has changed twice. At first, in the summer of 1946, the agonizing government issued adopenge, a derivative of the main currency worth already two trillion pounds.
But this did not become the limit. Soon, banknotes called "ed" were printed, the face value of which amounted to one billion trillion pounds (this is 10 with 21 zeros). Ed is still considered the largest bill in the world. Although this money quickly went out of circulation.
More recently, one of the largest banknotes in the world worth 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollars was in circulation on the territory of the state of Zimbabwe. In a short time, inflation in the state exceeded 8000%, and the government decided to abandon these banknotes. Now they have become part of the story, and in the calculations, the inhabitants of Zimbabwe use the American dollar.
The most expensive banknotes
Many out of habit are convinced that the most expensive cash in the world is British pounds, but this is not so.
For quite some time now, the largest bill in the world in terms of purchasing power has been the dinar of the state of Kuwait, recognized as the most expensive world currency. The maximum face value of this banknote is 20 dinars. Such a high cost of this money is due to the fact that Kuwait has significant oil reserves in the state.
The second most valuable currency in the world is the Bahraini dinar. Interestingly, Bahrain is a very small island nation with a population of just over a million people. The high cost of this currency is also provided by the export of oil and oil products.
One of the largest banknotes in the world is the Omani rial. The purchasing power of this currency is so high that the Omani Treasury has to issue half or even one fourth rial banknotes.
Unfamiliar dollars
Probably everyone knows what American dollars look like. This currency can be paid in almost any country in the world. Currently, banknotes with a nominal value of 1, 5, 10, 20 and 100 dollars are in circulation. It is customary to assume that the largest bill is $ 100, but this is not at all the case. There are banknotes with a larger denomination, but not everyone saw or held them.
Currently, there are dollar bills in circulation with a nominal value of 500, 1000, 5000, 10, 000 dollars. And among them, the largest bill in the world, a kind of "American dream" - $ 100, 000.
Only 42, 000 pieces were issued with this denomination; therefore, they have not only a nominal high value, but also a collection one. These notes were never used in circulation; the US Treasury issued them in 1934-1935 purely for internal settlements.
On the front side of the bill was an image of the twenty-eighth US President Woodrow Wilson, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1919. And this is absolutely not surprising, because he is the founder of the US Federal Reserve.
If we talk not about face value, but about purchasing value, then the biggest bill in the world can be called a banknote of 10, 000 US dollars. They were first released at the end of the 19th century, and since then have not officially been withdrawn from circulation. True, a little more than a hundred of such bills remained, and almost all of them are in the hands of collectors.
Banknote of the Russian Empire
In the history of one of the largest notes in the world, both in size and in purchase value, there was a banknote of 500 rubles. It was first released in 1898 and was used for calculations until 1917. Its value was equated to 430 grams of gold - rather rather big security. And the dimensions of the bill inspired respect: 275 mm wide and 125 mm high.
On the front side of the banknote was depicted Peter the Great, for which the people nicknamed her "Petenka". Historians have estimated that in 1910 the cost of one such bill was two annual salaries of a skilled worker.
