麻豆影院

Money Talks聽

A nation鈥檚 currency reflects its society, not just its economics, and design changes聽can signal social progress.聽

In 2020, for instance, the United States Mint plans to reveal designs for the first聽bills in more than a century to show a woman and the first ever to show an聽African American. Harriet Tubman, once a slave, will replace Andrew Jackson,聽the slave-owning seventh U.S. president, on the front of the $20 bill. Redesigned聽$10 and $5 notes also will incorporate women.聽

Other currency updates clearly broadcast awful times. Take the 500 million mark聽Reichsbanknote from the CU Heritage Center鈥檚 collections (pictured above). Issued聽by the Weimar Republic in 1923, it reflected runaway inflation in post-World War I聽Germany, which aided the rise of Adolf Hitler.聽

The bill, which possibly belonged to CU President George Norlin, wouldn鈥檛 have聽bought much: By November 1923 a loaf of bread in Germany cost 200 billion marks.聽So there was a 100 trillion mark note, too.聽

The Heritage Center鈥檚 small but varied currency collection also includes an聽American Revolution-era $30 bill and a $50 Confederate States of America bill (both聽pictured). They may be viewed in person by appointment with the curator.

Photos courtesy CU Heritage Center聽