All Episodes

January 31, 2019 14 mins

From the treasury joker who snuck his face on some cash, to Theodore Roosevelt’s drastic redesign for the penny, to the very best reason Harriet Tubman belongs on the $20, Will and Mango are diving into dollar bill facts Scrooge McDuck-style.

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
I guess what, mango, what's that? Well, so you may
have heard this before, but did you know there's actually
a law that states that only dead people can appear
on us currency. You know, I had heard that before.
But what's funny. It's like, why did that become a law?
Like why was that important enough to put into writing?
It really is, it's it's weird, and I was wondering

(00:23):
the same thing. So I decided to look back at this,
and I'm glad that I did because it's it's kind
of a weird and fun story. But it goes back
to this superintendent of the National Currency Bureau and was
a guy named Spencer Clark, and this was back in
eighteen sixty six, so a long time ago, and he
oversaw the creation of what we're called fractional bills. And
I didn't remember a whole lot about these, but these

(00:45):
were bills that were not as big as regular ones.
They were five cent, ten cent cent, and these other denominations.
But they were actually made because the nation was dealing
with a coin shortage. This was just after the Civil War,
and so Congress had asked the Bureau to make a
new fractional bill in honor of William Clark. Now this
is the Clark from Lewis and Clark fame. But the

(01:07):
document that was passed along to Spencer Clark only said Clark.
Now you may notice that he had the same last name.
So as a joke, Spencer Clark decided to interpret that
as being about himself, and so he actually had the
five cent bill made with his own mug on it.
This is not a joke, he really did. Fancy. That's

(01:28):
pretty gutsy, huh. How did this joke go over? Well?
About as well as you could imagine. Congress was not
at all pleased. So Congressman Russell Thayer successfully pushed to
have a law passed that stated that hereafter, no portrait
or likeness of any living person should be engraved or
placed on any bonds, securities, notes, or postal currency of

(01:50):
the United States. So that is why only dead people
can appear on money for now, because of a prank.
I kind of love that I do too. And you know,
that's really just one of many fun facts about the
things that we see on our money. And that's exactly
what we're talking about today. So let's dive in. M

(02:27):
Aither podcast listeners. Welcome to part time genius. I'm Will
Pearson and it's always I'm joined by my good friend
Mangesh Ticketer and on the other side of the soundproof
class showing off one of the world's weirdest piggy banks.
It's this green pig and for some reason, it says
Dill Pickle on it. I don't really, I don't get it. Yeah,
I don't get it either, And and apparently he isn't
alone in this. Like you can actually buy these on eBay.

(02:49):
They're marketed as the perfect piggy banks for foodies for
some reason. That's a that's another weird one from our
friends and producer Tristan McNeil. So, Mango, are you ready
to talk money? I am. I was thinking about money
this week, and I immediately started thinking about Alex p.
Keaton from Family Ties him of course more than like

(03:10):
Scrooge mcdock or Ritchie Rich or Gordon Gecko from Wall Street, Like,
this is the character I associate with money. And it's
all because of one scene that somehow like stuck in
my head. It's uh. He was talking about how much
he loved money, and some other character would throw a
coin into a jar and he just identified it by
the sound, so he'd be like nickel Quarter doing an

(03:31):
episode on money made me think of that, plus saying
Kristen's dill pickle bank. Anyway, I do you want to
pick up where you left off? And that's what people
we find on our dollar bills and specifically presidents. To me,
it's pretty interesting that the earliest coins and bills didn't
actually have any presidents on them, and that was partially
because of George Washington and who he was. He made
it clear he didn't want his image on any currency,

(03:53):
despite other people pushing for it, and this actually made
sense because the US had obviously been rebelling against the
country that liked putting their heads estates on their money,
and instead the founding fathers decided to use imagery that
they felt symbolized the type of government that they were
aiming to build. So they use things like an American
eagle on one side and then a Goddess of Liberty
on the other, which is super interesting because you know,

(04:16):
while men and mostly white men are on phases of
money right now, like at one point, women were better
represented on some of our earliest currencies. So so when
exactly did presidents start appearing on our money. Um, if
I tell you this does account as one of my facts,
you know, it's interesting. I'm looking over Tristan and he
is nodding pretty aggressively, and he sets the rules around here,

(04:38):
so I guess it has to but I feel like
it's worth sharing anyway. So the first president didn't appear
on US currency until nine nine, and that's a hundred
and thirty three years after the country was created, and
right around a hundred years after Lincoln was born. And
that's actually how it all got started. So Teddy Roosevelt
was president at the time, and he wanted to find
a way to celebrate that anniversary. He actually always a

(05:00):
close connection to Lincoln. I don't know if you remember this,
but he had attended Lincoln's funeral procession as it moved
through New York City when he was a boy. I
think he's six years old at the time. When he
became president, he wore a ring that had strands of
Lincoln's hair in it. So when he actually had the
power to do so, he had a series of commemorative
pennies made in Lincoln's honor, twenty two million of them

(05:20):
in fact, and then Reckon public seemed to like them
so much that they just stuck around and everyone kept
making them, and so that's what what started it all.
And and presidents just started showing up left and right
on these coins or what you know. Surprisingly, it wasn't
the floodgate you might imagine. It was actually another twenty
three years before another president appeared, and that was Washington
on a commemorative quarter in ninety two, which of course

(05:43):
was also a big hit. So the men just kept
making them. That's interesting, all right, Well, I want to
talk for a minute about the ridges on our coins,
you know, the ones along the kind of the edge
of the coin. And I think most of us have
heard that they're there to help prevent counterfeiting, and you know,
because it makes it that much more detailed than hard
to reproduce. But there's actually a slightly different origin to

(06:05):
these ridges that I've I've never heard about. So in
the earliest days, the US meant coins were actually made
of their actual value in gold or silver or whatever
precious metal. And so that meant that a five dollar
coin was actually made of five dollars in gold. The
problem was that this metal was so valuable that people
started just kind of filing it down, you know, on

(06:27):
the smooth edges of these coins, and then they would
sell off the shavings, and this became known as clipping,
and so those who were really good at this could
actually shave off just enough where people wouldn't notice, and
then they could still use those coins. But that became
much harder to pull off as the ridges were put
into place, because you know, if somebody shaved off any coin,

(06:48):
it would no longer have those ridges. And so you know,
even though those coins are no longer made of these
same precious metals, some still have these ridges. And it
actually turns out that preventing counterfeiting isn't the only reason
for that. Is it just tradition then, mean, that's definitely
one reason, because it was something that was put in
place a long time ago. But one of the others

(07:08):
is that it's actually another helpful way for the visually
impaired to tell what coin they're holding, because some coins
have the ridges and others don't, So, for example, you know,
dimes have reads, pennies don't, so it you know, it
makes a lot of sense when you think about it,
all right, Mango, So what do you want to talk
about next, Well, I do feel like we have to
address the fact that pretty much every bill we get

(07:30):
our hands on is disgusting, and so we do we
have to address this. So there's this one two reports
in the Southern Medical Journal, and it showed that more
than of bills tested have some form of harmful pathogen
on them, So we're talking about stuff like Staphylococcus uh
and other gross things. And the same study actually showed

(07:52):
that most bills have at least trace amounts of fecal
matter on them, which is also wonderful. I'm never using
anything but a credit card ever. Again, it feels like
it would be wise to like wash your hands after
using dollar bills. But that's not all it's it's wild
that one study back in the late nineties found that
somewhere around eighty percent of bills in circulation had trace

(08:12):
amounts of cocaine on them. Oh, that is wild. So
of like all bills they have this on that's so
disgusting it is, But you know, it's definitely more some
types of bills than others that it turns out if
you really want to avoid a hint of cocaine on
your bills, it's best to use ones and fives over
tens and twenties. Okay, well, that's something I'll keep in mind.

(08:33):
All well, here's something I hadn't paid much attention to.
But have you seen the spiky circle that's on the
right side of Washington on the one dollar bill. Yeah,
so this is actually the seal of the Treasury, and
it's one part of the dollar bill that has actually
had to change a little bit over the years because
the number of spikes is intended to match the number
of states in the Union. So they are now, of

(08:54):
course fifty there. But this is definitely not the number
you find most represented on our bills. So have you
noticed that there is a bit of an obsession with
the number thirteen? So the shield and the Treasury seal
that I just mentioned has thirteen stars to represent the
thirteen original colonies, but there are so many more reminders
that we have these thirteen original colonies. They're thirteen stars

(09:17):
above the eagles head, thirteen stripes on the shield in
front of the eagle, thirteen arrows in one of the
eagles talents, thirteen leaves with thirteen olive branches, and something
I had not heard before, and that's the fact that
there are thirteen letters in e pluribus unum. That is strange.
You know, as soon as you said the number thirteen,
I wasn't thinking thirteen colonies. I was just thinking like

(09:39):
how unlucky the number thirteen is. And it is funny
that it's just like blasted all over our bills. That's crazy.
So here's a weird one. We all know. Andrew Jackson
is on the twenty dollar bill. There's been all this
hubbub whether he should be there, like or whether we
can take him off. I know we've talked about replacing
him with Harriet Tubman recently, um or someone just less

(10:01):
horrible than he is. But there's this weird thing about
having Jackson on the bill, and also that people are
fighting to keep him there. And it's that Jackson didn't
believe in paper money, Like yeah, he actually used his
farewell addressed as president to blast the idea of paper currency,
claiming it had no intrinsic value and that it would

(10:23):
quote render property insecure and wages unsteady and uncertain. So,
you know, having him on the twenties almost like having
Richard Nixon on your soup labels, which I know it's
a weird reference, but he didn't believe in soup, and
he had a band from the White House. I wasn't
expecting it to bring soup into this. But all right,
well we've each got one more fact to share. But

(10:44):
before we get to those, let's take a quick break.
Welcome back, part time genius. We were talking about things
we find on our money. So far, we found cocaine,

(11:05):
We found the number of thirteen a lot. But I
know during the break you mentioned that you had a
fact about that Latin motto e pluribus unum, which I
think we all learned in school means out of many one.
But uh, that wasn't your last fact, was it. Well, no, mago,
come on, I got better stuff than that. But all right,
this is just one more reference to the original thirteen colonies,

(11:27):
as we mentioned. But what I found funny was that
the founding fathers may have actually borrowed this phrase from
a popular magazine. It wasn't something that they actually came
up with themselves. So there was this British periodical that
started back in seventeen thirty two and it ran for
nearly two centuries, and it was called Gentleman's Magazine and
it's it's not as dirty as it sounds. Anyway, on

(11:51):
every issue was this phrase e pluribus unum. But in
this case this was actually referring to the fact that
so many articles were coming from so many differ prints sources,
but all brought together into one publication. So it kind
of makes sense why they would say this. So as
Gentlemen's Magazine started gaining popularity in the colonies, it seems
very possible that they were actually inspired by this phrase,

(12:14):
and so that maybe where it came from. Anyway. All right, Mago,
So what is your last fact of the day. Well,
I like that you spotted plagiarism basically on our bellar bills.
That's pretty amazing. So I think I'm gonna end with
the fact about the two signatures you see on every
print bill here in the US. One is from the
Treasure of the United States and one's from the Secretary

(12:34):
of the Treasury. Wait, so that those aren't the same thing. No,
So the Treasure actually advises the Secretary about various currency,
but it's the Secretary that makes the final calls. And
the current Secretary of the Treasury is Steve Munusan. He's
actually the seventy seven person to hold his title, and
every one of them has been a man. But this
is the more interesting part. The current treasure is Jovita

(12:57):
Carranza or Jovita Corenza. I might be pronouncing that wrong,
but she's actually the forty four person in this position,
and it's actually only been held by women for the
past seven decades, dating back to Harry Truman appointing the
first female in this role. That's so weird. So only
men in one role and only women for the past
seven decades. It feels like just another reminder of how

(13:19):
weird people are about gender stuff, isn't it. Yeah. In fact,
Jennifer Lawless, who's the director of the Women in Politics
and Student at American University, she actually said this about
it quote. Once there's a woman appointed in a position,
it's easy to assume that position is one that could
be filled by a woman. Once an initial ceiling is broken,
once an initial piece of progress is made, there's a

(13:41):
tendency to continue down that path. All right, Well, here's
to a woman holding the position of Secretary of Treasury
at some point in the not too distant future, And
I feel like may go for that little reminder of
just how weird people are. I feel like I need
to give you today's trophy. Well, I will take it
because I feel like I haven't earned a trophy in
a little bit. It from Tristan gave will Amy. Thank

(14:03):
you so much for listening. M

Part-Time Genius News

Advertise With Us

Follow Us On

Hosts And Creators

Will Pearson

Will Pearson

Mangesh Hattikudur

Mangesh Hattikudur

Show Links

AboutRSS

Popular Podcasts

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.

Crime Junkie

Crime Junkie

Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.