Your US Currency history lesson of the day courtesy of my son's 4th grade class

I have been on this planet 3 decades and never knew these existed. I can't be the only one.



The Treasury minted several versions of the $500 bill, the most recent one featuring President William McKinley on the front. The last $500 bill rolled off the presses in 1945, and was formally discontinued 24 years later. The Treasury began receiving these bills from financial institutions and exchanging them for fresh bills of smaller denominations. Like all the bills featured here, the $500 bill remains legal tender. That being said, should you come into possession of a $500 bill, you'd be crazy to buy anything with it. Its market value far exceeds its face value, with even worn $500 bills commanding upward of a 40% premium on the open market.



The original $1,000 bill featured Alexander Hamilton on the front. When someone presumably realized that it might be confusing to have the same former Secretary of the Treasury on multiple denominations, Hamilton's visage was replaced with that of another dead president: the 22nd and the 24th, Grover Cleveland. Like its smaller cousin the $500 bill, the $1,000 bill was also discontinued in 1969. And like the $500 bill, the $1,000 bill would seem to have a lot more use now than it did then.



Also discontinued in 1969, the $5,000 bill was graced by a photo of James Madison, and finding one today takes pluck, luck and significantly more than $5,000. Fewer than 400 are believed to exist.



Salmon P. Chase might be the most accomplished politician in our nation's history never to have served as president. But even though he was a governor of and senator from Ohio, secretary of the treasury under Abraham Lincoln, and chief justice of the United States, Chase is remembered by most people – to the extent that he is remembered at all – as "the guy on the $10,000 bill." The largest denomination ever printed for public consumption, the $10,000 bill never got much use. This lack of use is understandable, given that its value outstripped the net worth of the average American during most of the time the bill was available. The bill was part of the 1969 purge of large currencies, and like its $5,000 counterpart, only a few hundred authenticated samples survive.