WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.339 Welcome to the deep dive. Imagine you are cleaning 00:00:04.339 --> 00:00:07.759 out a relative's dusty old attic, right? Oh man, 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:10.220 I love good attic discovery. Right. You're moving 00:00:10.220 --> 00:00:13.539 aside boxes of like moth -eaten clothes, old 00:00:13.539 --> 00:00:17.059 photo albums, and way in the back, tucked under 00:00:17.059 --> 00:00:20.379 a floorboard, you find this heavy antique lock 00:00:20.379 --> 00:00:23.239 box. Okay, the classic hidden treasure. Exactly. 00:00:23.579 --> 00:00:26.480 You pry it open, half expecting to find, you 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:30.250 know, stacks of gold bars or some forgotten Or 00:00:30.250 --> 00:00:32.750 just some really old tax returns. Yeah, usually. 00:00:33.009 --> 00:00:35.049 But instead, lying there at the bottom, there 00:00:35.049 --> 00:00:38.310 is just a single, crisp piece of paper. Just 00:00:38.310 --> 00:00:41.049 one piece of paper. Just one. It looks like standard 00:00:41.049 --> 00:00:43.189 currency, but the number printed across it makes 00:00:43.189 --> 00:00:46.609 your eyes widen. It's a $100 ,000 bill. Oh, wow. 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:49.420 Instantly. I mean, your mind starts racing. Oh, 00:00:49.539 --> 00:00:51.280 absolutely. You start calculating what that's 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:53.399 worth today, adjusting for inflation. You're 00:00:53.399 --> 00:00:55.859 thinking about buying a private island or maybe 00:00:55.859 --> 00:00:58.020 just paying off a mortgage in one fell swoop. 00:00:58.380 --> 00:01:00.700 The tactile feel of that paper in your hand, 00:01:00.979 --> 00:01:02.539 it would feel like holding a winning lottery 00:01:02.539 --> 00:01:04.680 ticket from another century. Because you'd be 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:07.480 holding a piece of United States currency that, 00:01:07.939 --> 00:01:11.859 in today's money, is worth roughly $2 .2 million. 00:01:12.500 --> 00:01:15.859 That is wild. A single piece of paper worth over 00:01:15.859 --> 00:01:20.099 $2 million. It feels like the ultimate antique 00:01:20.099 --> 00:01:23.719 road show discovery. But there is a massive twist 00:01:23.719 --> 00:01:25.680 here. There's always a twist. If you take that 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:27.780 beautiful piece of paper down to your local bank 00:01:27.780 --> 00:01:30.359 to cash it in, you aren't going to walk out a 00:01:30.359 --> 00:01:32.640 millionaire. You are very likely going to walk 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:34.519 out in handcuffs. handcuffs. Handcuffs for a 00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:37.400 real bill. Yeah. Today we're unpacking a Wikipedia 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:39.780 article you sent us about the most expensive, 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:42.560 highly illegal piece of paper in American history, 00:01:42.859 --> 00:01:46.200 the United States $100 ,000 bill. It is such 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:48.180 a fascinating topic. It really is. Our mission 00:01:48.180 --> 00:01:50.519 today is to figure out why the U .S. government 00:01:50.519 --> 00:01:52.560 ever felt the need to print a piece of paper 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:54.879 with 100 grand written on it, how it functioned 00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:57.540 during a time of, well, nationwide panic, and 00:01:57.540 --> 00:01:59.920 what this bizarre artifact tells us about the 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:02.415 underlying mechanics of money itself. Okay, let's 00:02:02.409 --> 00:02:05.250 this. Yeah, to really grasp why a piece of paper 00:02:05.250 --> 00:02:07.310 can get you arrested a century after it was printed, 00:02:07.930 --> 00:02:10.569 we had to travel back to the early 1930s. Right. 00:02:11.050 --> 00:02:12.689 Because, you know, governments do not just invent 00:02:12.689 --> 00:02:14.330 hundred thousand dollar bills for the fun of 00:02:14.330 --> 00:02:16.550 it or to like show off their engraving skills. 00:02:16.689 --> 00:02:19.069 Definitely not. They do it when the financial 00:02:19.069 --> 00:02:21.330 system is on the absolute brink of collapse. 00:02:21.930 --> 00:02:25.409 And in 1933, The United States was staring into 00:02:25.409 --> 00:02:27.770 the abyss. The Great Depression. Exactly. The 00:02:27.770 --> 00:02:30.129 depression was in full devastating swing. But 00:02:30.129 --> 00:02:32.050 it wasn't just the stock market crash anymore. 00:02:32.449 --> 00:02:35.050 The actual banking system was disintegrating. 00:02:35.490 --> 00:02:38.629 Thousands of banks were failing. And when people 00:02:38.629 --> 00:02:40.889 see their neighbors losing their life savings 00:02:40.889 --> 00:02:43.689 because the local bank locked its doors, panic 00:02:43.689 --> 00:02:46.340 sets in. Totally natural reaction. Yeah, the 00:02:46.340 --> 00:02:49.180 everyday citizen completely loses faith in paper 00:02:49.180 --> 00:02:51.599 money and promissory notes. They want something 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:54.180 they can hold in their hand that has intrinsic 00:02:54.180 --> 00:02:57.340 value. They turn to gold, which creates this 00:02:57.340 --> 00:03:00.219 vicious cycle. Citizens were actively pulling 00:03:00.219 --> 00:03:02.080 whatever wealth they had left out of the banking 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:05.000 system, converting it into physical gold. So 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:08.039 coins, bullion, gold certificates and hiding 00:03:08.039 --> 00:03:10.360 it like literally hiding it. Yeah, literally. 00:03:10.599 --> 00:03:14.280 People were renting safe deposit boxes, stuffing 00:03:14.280 --> 00:03:17.000 it under floorboards, literally burying it in 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:19.379 their backyards. They were terrified of waking 00:03:19.379 --> 00:03:22.620 up to find their paper money was just, you know, 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:25.460 worthless. Hoarding gold during a depression 00:03:25.460 --> 00:03:28.219 is like freezing the blood supply of an economy. 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:30.439 That's a great way to put it. Because if everyone 00:03:30.439 --> 00:03:32.680 hides their wealth under the mattress, the money 00:03:32.680 --> 00:03:36.300 stops moving and the system dies. You need that 00:03:36.300 --> 00:03:38.479 capital flowing through banks so they can give 00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:41.159 out loans, so businesses can build factories, 00:03:41.340 --> 00:03:44.280 so employers can pay workers. If the gold is 00:03:44.280 --> 00:03:47.460 buried in the yard, the economy flatlines. What's 00:03:47.460 --> 00:03:49.759 fascinating here is the sheer audacity of the 00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:52.080 government's intervention. It was huge. I mean, 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:54.680 when Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, 00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:57.500 he looked at this frozen economy and realized 00:03:57.500 --> 00:03:59.620 the gold standard was acting as a straight jacket. 00:03:59.949 --> 00:04:02.270 He couldn't just launch a polite public relations 00:04:02.270 --> 00:04:04.490 campaign asking people to please deposit their 00:04:04.490 --> 00:04:06.530 gold back into their checking accounts. Please, 00:04:06.669 --> 00:04:08.370 pretty please? Right, that wouldn't work. He 00:04:08.370 --> 00:04:11.669 had to use a hammer. FDR signed Executive Order 00:04:11.669 --> 00:04:15.330 6102, which was later ratified by Congress in 00:04:15.330 --> 00:04:18.410 1934. The government essentially demanded that 00:04:18.410 --> 00:04:21.170 all citizens surrender their monetary gold. Surrender 00:04:21.170 --> 00:04:24.129 it, just like that. They made it illegal for 00:04:24.129 --> 00:04:26.709 everyday Americans to hold onto substantial amounts 00:04:26.709 --> 00:04:29.870 of gold bullion or coins. Which is mind -blowing 00:04:29.870 --> 00:04:32.250 today. It really is. You are legally required 00:04:32.250 --> 00:04:34.230 to take your family's gold down to the Federal 00:04:34.230 --> 00:04:37.170 Reserve or a designated bank and exchange it 00:04:37.170 --> 00:04:40.769 for paper money at a set rate of about $20 .67 00:04:40.769 --> 00:04:43.810 an ounce. And if you didn't? The penalty for 00:04:43.810 --> 00:04:47.009 refusing was severe, massive fines, or even prison 00:04:47.009 --> 00:04:49.470 time. It was a monumental psychological shock 00:04:49.470 --> 00:04:51.899 to the public. The government was fundamentally 00:04:51.899 --> 00:04:54.160 changing the legal relationship between citizens 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:56.660 and their wealth. They were violently forcing 00:04:56.660 --> 00:04:59.300 the economy back into motion by centralizing 00:04:59.300 --> 00:05:01.879 the entire country's gold supply under the control 00:05:01.879 --> 00:05:04.040 of the Federal Reserve and the Treasury. And 00:05:04.040 --> 00:05:06.839 that massive unprecedented centralization is 00:05:06.839 --> 00:05:10.259 the exact catalyst for the $100 ,000 bill. Because 00:05:10.259 --> 00:05:12.519 suddenly the Federal Reserve banks were flush 00:05:12.519 --> 00:05:15.699 with physical gold, mountains of it turned in 00:05:15.699 --> 00:05:17.959 by citizens and local banks from all across the 00:05:17.959 --> 00:05:20.560 country. And consolidating all that physical 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:24.000 metal creates a logistical nightmare. Oh, absolutely. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:26.079 Even if all the gold is sitting in government 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:28.439 vaults, you still have to balance the massive 00:05:28.439 --> 00:05:30.379 accounting ledgers between the different branches 00:05:30.379 --> 00:05:33.720 of the Federal Reserve. Right. So if the Federal 00:05:33.720 --> 00:05:36.480 Reserve Bank of New York owed the Federal Reserve 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:40.160 Bank of Chicago $10 million to settle their regional 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:43.420 accounts. The legal framework of the gold standard 00:05:43.420 --> 00:05:45.699 at the time dictated that this debt had to be 00:05:45.699 --> 00:05:47.800 settled with actual gold. Wait, hold on. I'm 00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:49.680 stuck on something. Here's where it gets really 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:51.779 interesting. OK, what is it? If I owe you money 00:05:51.779 --> 00:05:54.550 today, I just Venmo you. Or a bank wires the 00:05:54.550 --> 00:05:57.449 funds digitally. If the New York Fed owed the 00:05:57.449 --> 00:06:00.009 Chicago Fed money in 1934 and they have all this 00:06:00.009 --> 00:06:02.209 surrendered gold sitting in vaults, why print 00:06:02.209 --> 00:06:05.290 paper at all? Why not just update a master ledger 00:06:05.290 --> 00:06:08.009 in Washington, D .C.? Just cross out a number 00:06:08.009 --> 00:06:10.250 in New York's column and add it to Chicago's. 00:06:10.329 --> 00:06:13.329 Well, because the law didn't allow for purely 00:06:13.329 --> 00:06:16.170 digital or conceptual money like that yet. Oh, 00:06:16.170 --> 00:06:18.370 OK. The legal framework of the gold standard, 00:06:18.550 --> 00:06:21.410 even as FDR was modifying it, strictly required 00:06:21.410 --> 00:06:24.800 a tangible claim. A simple ledger entry wasn't 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:27.480 enough. Their receiving bank needed a legally 00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:30.860 binding warehouse receipt proving that a specific 00:06:30.860 --> 00:06:33.379 physical amount of gold belonged to them. So 00:06:33.379 --> 00:06:36.459 they needed a physical object. Exactly. The alternative 00:06:36.459 --> 00:06:39.000 was moving the actual metal. And moving physical 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:41.240 gold is a terrifying prospect. I mean, let's 00:06:41.240 --> 00:06:43.480 think about the weight for a second. At roughly 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:46.319 $35 an ounce, which is what the government revalued 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:49.680 it to shortly after collecting it, $100 ,000 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:54.160 in gold weighs about 178 pounds. Wow. So if New 00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:56.360 York needs to settle a $10 million debt with 00:06:56.360 --> 00:06:59.720 Chicago, that is nearly nine tons of solid gold. 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:02.060 Nine tons. Yeah, you can't just put that in mailbag. 00:07:02.180 --> 00:07:04.620 You need heavily armored trains, dozens of armed 00:07:04.620 --> 00:07:07.339 guards, and massive security logistics just to 00:07:07.339 --> 00:07:10.079 settle an accounting imbalance. Which is incredibly 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:13.310 inefficient and dangerous. And this is exactly 00:07:13.310 --> 00:07:16.730 why the $100 ,000 bill was commissioned in 1933 00:07:16.730 --> 00:07:20.670 and printed in 1934 and 1935. It was a workaround. 00:07:20.990 --> 00:07:22.990 Basically, yeah. It was engineered strictly for 00:07:22.990 --> 00:07:25.629 gold transactions between federal reserve banks. 00:07:26.129 --> 00:07:28.310 It was never meant to be folded up in a citizen's 00:07:28.310 --> 00:07:30.430 wallet. It was a high -level logistical tool. 00:07:30.629 --> 00:07:33.149 The sources highlight a really crucial detail 00:07:33.149 --> 00:07:36.000 about the wording on this paper, too. Unlike 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:38.360 the typical US dollars we have in our wallets 00:07:38.360 --> 00:07:41.500 today, this was never issued as a Federal Reserve 00:07:41.500 --> 00:07:43.939 note. It wasn't a standard greenback. It was 00:07:43.939 --> 00:07:47.300 explicitly labeled a gold certificate. If we 00:07:47.300 --> 00:07:49.480 connect this to the bigger picture, a Federal 00:07:49.480 --> 00:07:51.759 Reserve note is essentially a promissory note 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:53.519 relying on the faith and credit of the government. 00:07:53.660 --> 00:07:56.540 Right. But a gold certificate is literally a 00:07:56.540 --> 00:08:00.370 title deed. Whoever holds that certificate owns 00:08:00.370 --> 00:08:03.110 that specific pile of gold sitting in the treasury 00:08:03.110 --> 00:08:06.470 vault. So this bill was basically a 1930s analog 00:08:06.470 --> 00:08:09.750 version of a massive digital bank transfer, saving 00:08:09.750 --> 00:08:12.290 the Federal Reserve from constantly lugging heavy 00:08:12.290 --> 00:08:15.050 gold bars from city to city. That's a great analogy. 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:18.240 Instead of loading nine tons of gold onto a train, 00:08:18.660 --> 00:08:22.000 a clerk deep inside a treasury vault could simply 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:25.699 hand over a stack of 100 pieces of paper to another 00:08:25.699 --> 00:08:27.980 clerk representing a different reserve branch. 00:08:28.819 --> 00:08:31.399 The gold physically stays put. but the legal 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:34.379 ownership of it instantly transfers. It was an 00:08:34.379 --> 00:08:36.600 ingenious bridge between the physical reality 00:08:36.600 --> 00:08:39.299 of the gold standard and the speed required for 00:08:39.299 --> 00:08:41.340 modern finance to function during a recovery. 00:08:41.580 --> 00:08:42.879 It makes a lot of sense when you put it that 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:45.200 way. Yeah. And this bill was part of a larger 00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:49.080 1934 series of gold certificates that also included 00:08:49.080 --> 00:08:52.980 100, 1000 and $10 ,000 notes. But the 100 ,000 00:08:52.980 --> 00:08:55.879 was the absolute pinnacle of this closed loop 00:08:55.879 --> 00:08:58.419 system. Knowing that this was essentially an 00:08:58.419 --> 00:09:00.759 internal banking tool, you know, a glorified 00:09:00.759 --> 00:09:02.980 interoffice memo for the Federal Reserve, you 00:09:02.980 --> 00:09:04.899 might expect it to look like a boring receipt. 00:09:05.179 --> 00:09:07.379 Right. Just some black typewriter text. Exactly. 00:09:07.500 --> 00:09:09.919 Just plain Treasury letterhead. But the Bureau 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:12.159 of Engraving and Printing took a completely different 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:16.159 approach. They crafted a highly specific, visually 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:19.940 striking physical object. Physically, it's unassuming 00:09:19.940 --> 00:09:22.340 at first glance. Like, it's the exact same size 00:09:22.340 --> 00:09:25.279 as the $1 bills we use today, 157 millimeters 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:28.139 wide by 66 millimeters high. Right, standard 00:09:28.139 --> 00:09:30.940 size. But the design is where it completely sets 00:09:30.940 --> 00:09:33.440 itself apart from anything else the Treasury 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:35.860 has ever produced. The front of the bill, the 00:09:35.860 --> 00:09:38.360 obverse, features a vignette portrait of the 00:09:38.360 --> 00:09:41.679 28th president, Woodrow Wilson. The engraving 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:43.759 was done by an artist named George Frederick 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:46.970 Cummings Smilley, and it is beautifully detailed. 00:09:47.009 --> 00:09:49.830 Gorgeous. But the choice of Wilson is what catches 00:09:49.830 --> 00:09:52.789 my eye. Looking at the sources outline of his 00:09:52.789 --> 00:09:55.070 life, it points out that under his new freedom 00:09:55.070 --> 00:09:57.990 domestic policies, Woodrow Wilson was the president 00:09:57.990 --> 00:10:00.330 who actually signed the Federal Reserve Act into 00:10:00.330 --> 00:10:04.289 law back in 1913. It's an incredibly fitting 00:10:04.289 --> 00:10:07.500 historical tribute. I mean, the ultimate highest 00:10:07.500 --> 00:10:10.440 denomination bank transfer note designed to save 00:10:10.440 --> 00:10:13.039 the Federal Reserve features the very president 00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:15.379 who brought the Federal Reserve system into existence. 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:17.779 That's like an inside nod to their own origins. 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:20.980 Yeah. And it's not just a portrait. The text 00:10:20.980 --> 00:10:23.360 underneath is basically a legal contract. It 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:26.200 reads, quote, This is to certify that there is 00:10:26.200 --> 00:10:28.559 on deposit in the Treasury of the United States 00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:33.500 of America. $100 ,000 in gold payable to bearer 00:10:33.500 --> 00:10:36.720 on demand as authorized by law. Very official. 00:10:36.899 --> 00:10:40.279 Very. It proudly states Washington, D .C. and 00:10:40.279 --> 00:10:42.559 includes the standard text about being legal 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:45.139 tender. But for a gold certificate that represents 00:10:45.139 --> 00:10:47.720 such an incomprehensible amount of pure gold, 00:10:48.059 --> 00:10:49.899 the front of the bill actually has a very little 00:10:49.899 --> 00:10:52.019 gold ink on it. Yeah, just the treasury seal 00:10:52.019 --> 00:10:54.580 and two serial numbers. The rest is standard 00:10:54.580 --> 00:10:57.200 black ink. Exactly. But the real visual shock 00:10:57.200 --> 00:10:59.460 hits you when you flip the bill over to the Oh, 00:10:59.799 --> 00:11:02.039 the back is wild. You flip it over and you do 00:11:02.039 --> 00:11:04.799 not see anything resembling gold. You see aggressive, 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:07.559 vivid orange ink. It's so bright. It features 00:11:07.559 --> 00:11:10.740 this massive number, 100 ,000, layered directly 00:11:10.740 --> 00:11:14.500 in front of a giant U .S. dollar sign. And radiating 00:11:14.500 --> 00:11:16.240 outward from the center of those numbers are 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:19.100 these bright orange rays, almost like sunbeams. 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:21.820 Sunbeams on money. Right. It looks graphic like 00:11:21.820 --> 00:11:24.399 something out of a vintage comic book or a bold 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:26.879 art deco poster rather than the most serious 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:29.419 financial instrument in the country. The aesthetic 00:11:29.419 --> 00:11:32.000 irony of the design is truly something to sit 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:35.120 with. You have a certificate meant to represent 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:39.320 unparalleled amounts of dense physical pure gold. 00:11:39.720 --> 00:11:42.100 And yet the designers completely abandoned gold 00:11:42.100 --> 00:11:44.259 ink or a traditional greenback design on the 00:11:44.259 --> 00:11:46.519 reverse. They just went full orange. They relied 00:11:46.519 --> 00:11:49.299 on loud orange ink and radiating sunbeams to 00:11:49.299 --> 00:11:53.059 convey its It's almost as if they needed a visual 00:11:53.059 --> 00:11:55.779 metaphor loud enough to match the sheer volume 00:11:55.779 --> 00:11:58.669 of wealth the paper represented. It's a beautifully 00:11:58.669 --> 00:12:01.230 strange piece of art. So the government printed 00:12:01.230 --> 00:12:04.509 these beautifully engraved orange -rayed masterpieces 00:12:04.509 --> 00:12:07.590 to move millions between banks during a crisis. 00:12:08.110 --> 00:12:10.750 The source tells us that about 42 ,000 of these 00:12:10.750 --> 00:12:13.789 bills were printed in total. Wow, 42 ,000. Yeah. 00:12:14.129 --> 00:12:18.029 That is $4 .2 billion in 1934 money just sitting 00:12:18.029 --> 00:12:20.480 in stacks of paper in government vaults. That 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:22.860 brings us to the ultimate mystery of this deep 00:12:22.860 --> 00:12:25.159 dive. Where are they now? That is the million 00:12:25.159 --> 00:12:27.340 dollar question. Well, two million dollar question. 00:12:27.779 --> 00:12:31.039 Right. If they printed 42 ,000 of these Art Deco 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:34.179 masterpieces, why can't the hypothetical person 00:12:34.179 --> 00:12:36.740 who found one in their attic actually keep it? 00:12:36.860 --> 00:12:40.580 Well, of those 42 ,000 original bills, the vast 00:12:40.580 --> 00:12:42.679 majority were actively destroyed by the government 00:12:42.679 --> 00:12:45.220 in the decades following their commission. Burned. 00:12:45.299 --> 00:12:48.129 Yeah. As secure telecommunications improved, 00:12:48.590 --> 00:12:51.110 the Federal Reserve developed reliable wire transfer 00:12:51.110 --> 00:12:54.450 systems. The need to physically hand over paper 00:12:54.450 --> 00:12:57.370 certificates to balance ledgers between Federal 00:12:57.370 --> 00:13:00.460 Reserve branches became obsolete. Much like how 00:13:00.460 --> 00:13:02.960 mobile banking apps have made paper checks nearly 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:05.460 obsolete for us today. Exactly. They didn't just 00:13:05.460 --> 00:13:08.059 void them. They physically burned billions of 00:13:08.059 --> 00:13:10.480 dollars in certificates. That is wild to think 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:13.000 about. Just throwing billions into a fire. It 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:15.379 really is. The ones that miraculously survived 00:13:15.379 --> 00:13:17.879 that purge are held very tightly by the federal 00:13:17.879 --> 00:13:19.909 government. The Federal Reserve System holds 00:13:19.909 --> 00:13:22.629 some and the Smithsonian Institution holds others. 00:13:22.870 --> 00:13:24.470 And outside of the federal government? Outside 00:13:24.470 --> 00:13:26.529 of the government, the law dictates these bills 00:13:26.529 --> 00:13:29.129 can only be used for educational purposes, like 00:13:29.129 --> 00:13:31.269 being displayed behind thick glass in a museum. 00:13:31.409 --> 00:13:34.450 So no private collections? None. If you visit 00:13:34.450 --> 00:13:36.529 the National Museum of American History today, 00:13:36.850 --> 00:13:38.889 you can actually see a couple of them. They have 00:13:38.889 --> 00:13:44.480 the bill. with the serial number A00000000001A, 00:13:44.659 --> 00:13:46.740 the very first one ever printed, and another 00:13:46.740 --> 00:13:51.120 with the serial number A000000109A sitting right 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:52.860 there on display. And when you look at them, 00:13:53.080 --> 00:13:55.159 you're looking at an asset that adjusted for 00:13:55.159 --> 00:13:58.620 inflation from 1934 to today holds an estimated 00:13:58.620 --> 00:14:02.320 value of roughly $2 .2 million. Which is staggering. 00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:04.759 It is staggering to stand in front of a small 00:14:04.759 --> 00:14:06.960 piece of paper no bigger than the dollar in your 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:09.460 pocket and realize you're looking at over $2 00:14:09.460 --> 00:14:12.659 million in purchasing power. But I have to ask 00:14:12.659 --> 00:14:14.700 about the legal side of this. So what does this 00:14:14.700 --> 00:14:16.840 all mean? Today, we don't back our money with 00:14:16.840 --> 00:14:19.559 gold anymore. We use a fiat currency system. 00:14:19.700 --> 00:14:21.559 Let's define that quickly for context. Sure. 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:24.200 A fiat currency system means our money has value 00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:26.419 simply because the government decrees it does 00:14:26.419 --> 00:14:28.539 and because we all collectively agree to use 00:14:28.539 --> 00:14:30.580 it. Right. There isn't a chunk of metal sitting 00:14:30.580 --> 00:14:32.600 in a vault backing up the dollars in your bank 00:14:32.600 --> 00:14:35.000 account. The dollar has value because the US 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:37.340 economy is strong and people trust it. Exactly 00:14:37.340 --> 00:14:40.360 my point. So if we use a fiat system now and 00:14:40.360 --> 00:14:43.299 the gold standard is completely gone, these specific 00:14:43.299 --> 00:14:45.879 certificates are functionally obsolete. Sure. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:48.500 They don't command physical gold anymore. So 00:14:48.500 --> 00:14:51.360 why is the government still so strict about making 00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:53.960 it a crime for a private citizen or a rare currency 00:14:53.960 --> 00:14:56.480 collector to own one? What's the harm in letting 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:59.179 a collector buy one at auction? This raises an 00:14:59.179 --> 00:15:01.100 important question about the long memory of the 00:15:01.100 --> 00:15:03.639 Treasury and really the lasting legal weight 00:15:03.639 --> 00:15:06.740 of executive orders. OK, the illegality. isn't 00:15:06.740 --> 00:15:08.899 really about the monetary value of the paper 00:15:08.899 --> 00:15:12.360 anymore. It's permanently tied to the specific, 00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:16.879 drastic regulations of FDR's 1934 era. Because 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:18.480 they were never issued for public circulation 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:20.740 in the first place. Precisely. When Executive 00:15:20.740 --> 00:15:23.340 Order 6102 and the subsequent Gold Reserve Act 00:15:23.340 --> 00:15:26.659 of 1934 were put into place, they drew a hard, 00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:29.200 impenetrable line between government -held monetary 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:32.100 gold and private property. Oh, I see. Because 00:15:32.100 --> 00:15:34.440 these specific notes were created exclusively 00:15:34.440 --> 00:15:36.820 under that legal framework as internal government 00:15:36.820 --> 00:15:39.879 receipts, they were born classified as government 00:15:39.879 --> 00:15:42.360 property. They never entered the public domain. 00:15:42.779 --> 00:15:45.200 There was never a legal mechanism for a private 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:47.899 citizen to acquire one. So if a private citizen 00:15:47.899 --> 00:15:50.919 somehow has one today, say, an old bank clerk 00:15:50.919 --> 00:15:54.279 slipped one into his pocket in 1935 and it ended 00:15:54.279 --> 00:15:57.259 up in that attic lockbox in the eyes of the law, 00:15:57.659 --> 00:16:00.559 it is essentially stolen government property. 00:16:00.940 --> 00:16:02.440 Exactly. It doesn't matter how much time has 00:16:02.440 --> 00:16:04.220 passed or that the gold standard has been dead 00:16:04.220 --> 00:16:07.700 for decades. The law remembers why the object 00:16:07.700 --> 00:16:09.679 was created, even if the economy was created 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:12.000 for has completely disappeared. It's a lingering 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:15.950 ghost of 1930s emergency law. Yeah. You can legally 00:16:15.950 --> 00:16:18.269 own a piece of the meteorite, you can buy ancient 00:16:18.269 --> 00:16:21.889 Roman coins, but you cannot legally own a 1934 00:16:21.889 --> 00:16:24.070 orange piece of paper with Woodrow Wilson's face 00:16:24.070 --> 00:16:26.129 on it. That is just incredible. Let's take a 00:16:26.129 --> 00:16:27.850 moment to look back at the incredible journey 00:16:27.850 --> 00:16:30.929 we've just taken today. We started in the desperate, 00:16:31.129 --> 00:16:33.470 panicking days of the Great Depression, where 00:16:33.470 --> 00:16:35.889 terrified people were literally burying gold 00:16:35.889 --> 00:16:38.289 in their yards, freezing the economy in its tracks. 00:16:38.509 --> 00:16:41.690 A literal freeze. Yeah. And we watched FDR use 00:16:41.690 --> 00:16:44.009 the heavy hand of the law to force that gold 00:16:44.009 --> 00:16:46.769 into government vaults, which created a massive 00:16:46.769 --> 00:16:49.269 nine ton per settlement logistical nightmare 00:16:49.269 --> 00:16:51.730 for the banks. Which birthed a hyper specific, 00:16:52.009 --> 00:16:54.809 ingenious tool, a hundred thousand dollar gold 00:16:54.809 --> 00:16:58.250 certificate. Right. A closed loop analog wire 00:16:58.250 --> 00:17:01.990 transfer never meant for our eyes, adorned with 00:17:01.990 --> 00:17:05.190 bright orange sunbeams and the face of the man 00:17:05.190 --> 00:17:08.069 who created the central bank. And finally, we 00:17:08.069 --> 00:17:10.589 tracked those surviving bills to the museum displays 00:17:10.589 --> 00:17:13.390 of today, where they sit as multimillion dollar 00:17:13.390 --> 00:17:16.210 artifacts of a bygone era, forever illegal to 00:17:16.210 --> 00:17:18.529 slip into your wallet. It really is a remarkable 00:17:18.529 --> 00:17:21.049 story. I want to take a second to address you, 00:17:21.109 --> 00:17:23.150 our listener, directly. Thank you so much for 00:17:23.150 --> 00:17:25.230 pointing us toward this Wikipedia article. It 00:17:25.230 --> 00:17:27.269 is the perfect example of what we love to do 00:17:27.269 --> 00:17:29.569 on this deep dive. It really is. It proves that 00:17:29.569 --> 00:17:32.430 even a seemingly simple, obsolete piece of paper 00:17:32.430 --> 00:17:35.829 can hold a massive amount of history, logistical 00:17:35.829 --> 00:17:38.950 problem solving, and legal drama within its fibers. 00:17:39.190 --> 00:17:41.589 But I think there's one final, larger perspective 00:17:41.589 --> 00:17:43.180 we should take away from this. Definitely. What 00:17:43.180 --> 00:17:46.380 is it? The $100 ,000 bill served as a fascinating 00:17:46.380 --> 00:17:48.940 physical bridge. It stood right in the middle 00:17:48.940 --> 00:17:52.200 of monetary evolution. It connected an old economy 00:17:52.200 --> 00:17:55.700 backed by heavy, physical, unmovable gold to 00:17:55.700 --> 00:17:58.680 the entirely digital, invisible wire transfers 00:17:58.680 --> 00:18:01.480 we rely on so completely today. It was the missing 00:18:01.480 --> 00:18:04.380 link. Right. And looking at that evolution makes 00:18:04.380 --> 00:18:07.240 you wonder, what physical objects do we currently 00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:09.900 use every single day to represent our wealth 00:18:09.900 --> 00:18:13.380 or to access our value that decades from now 00:18:13.380 --> 00:18:16.200 will seem just as absurd as an orange paper representing 00:18:16.200 --> 00:18:18.559 nine tons of gold? Wow, that's a great point. 00:18:18.759 --> 00:18:21.140 What piece of modern technology will be locked 00:18:21.140 --> 00:18:24.099 away in a museum behind glass, completely illegal 00:18:24.099 --> 00:18:26.680 or impossible to possess, simply because the 00:18:26.680 --> 00:18:29.779 very concept of how we store value will have 00:18:29.779 --> 00:18:32.059 fundamentally transformed all over again? It 00:18:32.059 --> 00:18:34.240 will be our plastic credit cards, a hardware 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:36.559 crypto wallet. It really makes you think about 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:38.880 that attic again. Maybe it isn't the paper or 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:41.240 the gold in the lockbox that holds the true value. 00:18:41.819 --> 00:18:43.759 Maybe the value is just the story we all agree 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:45.720 to tell about it, right up until the law steps 00:18:45.720 --> 00:18:46.960 in and changes the script.