You're On the Money

Washington, sez the always-reliable Wikipedia here, was opposed to having his face on the dollar, calling it "too European". Suppose the U.S. had never put dead Presidents on their bills? Who would be? Still the mythical figures? Secretary of the Treasury? Head of the Bureau of Engraving & Printing? The richest man in the country?:p (Hmm... Carrolls, Carnegies, Rockefellers, Gateses, Buffetts...:p)
 
Poets, authors and composers are common today in Europe, as well as natural features, national coat of arms and country personifications (which would be Columbia for USA), any of those goes, I guess.
 
I think that in the time when coins tended to have Liberty on them, bills were issued by individual banks and had various random things on them (usually either scenes or natural landmarks).
The tradition of putting dead presidents of money is from the first quarter of the 20th century, it seems. Before that, for bills it tended to be life scenes or landmarks (in a way, it still is - don't remember which one, but one of the notes has Independence Hall on it).
 
I always kinda liked the Lewis and Clark ten dollar note. Looked very much like bills did before the make-over of the 90's, except it had portraits of the two men flanking a painting of a buffalo in the center.

If not presidents, commemorative notes could be issued, to mark significant historical figures and events.
 
I think that in the time when coins tended to have Liberty on them, bills were issued by individual banks and had various random things on them (usually either scenes or natural landmarks).
The tradition of putting dead presidents of money is from the first quarter of the 20th century, it seems. Before that, for bills it tended to be life scenes or landmarks (in a way, it still is - don't remember which one, but one of the notes has Independence Hall on it).

That would be the hundred-dollar bill's back, and the old $2 bill had Monticello on the back.
 
I'm betting native animals...turkey, eagle, bison, mountain lion, etc. Also, once the conservationist movement gains traction in the late 19th century we may get natural land marks...Devil's Tower, Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon, etc.

Just my two cents.

Benjamin
 
I'm betting native animals...turkey, eagle, bison, mountain lion, etc. Also, once the conservationist movement gains traction in the late 19th century we may get natural land marks...Devil's Tower, Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon, etc.
I like those, myself. I imagined places, & cultural stuff, like totem poles, kind of like Canadian money sometimes has.
 
If there were no dead presidents we could still have Hamilton and Franklin.

I think it's good to have faces on the money. Humans are good at noticing differences between faces, so it cuts down on funny money to have faces. The UK discovered that making the Queen's face larger and off center cut down on counterfeiting. The US redesigned its notes in the nineties to gain these advantages. Maybe we could have Mark Twain, George Washington Carver, and John Augustus Roebling on the US money.

Animals are another good choice. Humans recognize details in animals almost as well as we do differences in faces. I'd love to see a cougar or timber rattler on the money. The timber rattlesnake of New England was an early motif in revolutionary propaganda.

Buildings and abstract designs can be faked more easily.
 
I actually thought of Secretary of the Treasury.;)

Hamilton was the first Secretary of the Treasury. That's why he's on the Ten. Only person on the money not born in the US or in one of the territories that became the US. Some said Hamilton was part black. Might have been.

Whatever happens, I want faces on the money. Experience in both the US and UK has shown that an asymmetrically positioned large face is a good way to prevent counterfeiting. Humans notice faces, so they're hard to fake.

Animals might do almost as well. Imagine a super-detailed timber rattlesnake face striking out from the $5 bill. The timber rattler was an early symbol of the American Revolution. Maybe an alligator on the ten to honor the South. and a whitetail deer on the twenty. Whitetails are everywhere, so no one could complain. Blue crabs on the dollar coin (there should not be a dollar bill) and badass animals like wapiti and cougars on the fifty and hundred.
 
Hamilton was the first Secretary of the Treasury. That's why he's on the Ten.
That's always thrown me off.:eek: Actually, if it was SecTreas, you get an interesting outcome: one guy who was SecTreas was convicted of fraud:eek: (afterward...:p).
I want faces on the money. Experience in both the US and UK has shown that an asymmetrically positioned large face is a good way to prevent counterfeiting. Humans notice faces, so they're hard to fake.
Good point. I hadn't thought of that.
Animals might do almost as well. Imagine a super-detailed timber rattlesnake face striking out from the $5 bill. The timber rattler was an early symbol of the American Revolution. Maybe an alligator on the ten to honor the South. and a whitetail deer on the twenty. Whitetails are everywhere, so no one could complain. Blue crabs on the dollar coin (there should not be a dollar bill) and badass animals like wapiti and cougars on the fifty and hundred.
I really like those.:cool::cool: Couple them with really colorful bills, not the boring greenbacks.;) (There's a reason Monopoly money is different colors....;))
 
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