:: BerDerp™ ::

So on Thursday I told you that I was grinding on new turf. Part of this new turf holds the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, which I noticed holds a publicly available tour on Fridays. Anyone can go. So go I did.

I’m not going to delve into a history of the Federal Reserve Bank, what it does, how it came into play, etc.. because you can go attend the tour yourself (but don’t expect to hear much about Jeckyll Island). Although I HIGHLY encourage you to do your homework as you will learn some interesting information that you weren’t taught in school.

What I will show you is something rather remarkable: a $100,000 US Treasury note that was printed in 1934 with Wilson’s image emblazoned across it. This note was actually never released to the public and only served as an internal bank-to-bank transfer item

If you are into numismatics then you know better than to take a rare piece of currency to a bank, because they will just give you face value. Take this $1000 bill below; a.k.a. as the “Watermelon bill” because the zero’s look like watermelon’s. Face value obviously – $1000 USD. Value at a collectors auction? $2 Million.

Finally, the tour informed us that EVERYDAY the Federal Reserve shreds and destroys over $56 Million dollars. Of course this is simultaneously replenished back into the mainstream circulation. But dayyumm that’s a lot of chedda gettin grated yo.