A $10,000 note from the Great Depression recently went under the hammer at Heritage Auctions in the United States. The final bid for this lot was $480,000.
The Federal Reserve Banknote issued in 1934 was certified by the Paper Money Guaranty (PMG) and received an Exceptional Paper Quality (EPQ) rating. With a portrait of Salmon P. Chase, former Chief Justice of the United States and Secretary of the Treasury under President Lincoln, on the obverse and inscriptions of the denomination and place of issue on the reverse, it was not intended for everyday transactions. Instead, it served mainly as a tool only for transferring funds between Federal Reserve banks.
The creation of such high-denomination notes was based on a different financial landscape, where large sums of money often had to be physically moved. In those days, banks used these notes as a means of settlement with each other, similar to modern electronic transfers.
However, the $10,000 banknote sold at the auction was never in circulation.
The Great Depression, which began in the fall of 1929 and lasted until the end of the 1930s, was the longest, deepest, and most global economic crisis of the 20th century. In different countries, the Great Depression had different chronological limits, but it was most noticeable in the countries of Western Europe and the USA.
During this time, the United States government introduced a variety of monetary policies and new currency denominations to address the country's financial problems. Among these new denominations were high-denomination notes, including the aforementioned $10,000 note.
Source: ha.com
