Hello. I’m a 1928 $100 bill some random guy was fortunate enough to take home today. Boy, did he look me over good. Says he’s some dude who writes a “blog”. Now, I’m not exactly sure what that is, but, I’m some-kind-of-glad to see daylight after being stuffed in a drawer for almost eighty years. Think my math is off, do ya? Well, I was glad-handed around for ten years or so and then “saved” the remainder of the time. Saved for “what”? You got me. Oh, yeah. Some dude.
I’m still legal. Legit and tender (ha). Let me tell you about myself. The “4” in my Federal Reserve Seal means I was born in Cleveland – Federal Reserve District Number 4. (As an aside, the District numbers were eventually changed to letters, so I would have been a “D” had I been born later….) I could have been born in Boston (“1”) which would make me rare, or, all the way up to San Francisco (“12”) and my value could be upwards of $1,000. Now, if I was an “11” (Dallas), I could be over $2,000… All of my value, of course, is based on what someone would be willing to pay. For now, I’m ok with being my boring face value (Cleveland is in Ohio, after all…thus the $100 wink wink) I have friends born in New York (2) Philadelphia (3) Richmond (5) Atlanta (6) Chicago (7) St. Louis (8) Minneapolis (9) and Kansas City (10). If you see any of them, drop me a line. I’d love to reconnect.
I’m an irregular sort, though. Not too odd … just odd enough to catch the eye of this random blog-dude. Yes, I’m old. Nineteen-Twenty Eight old. Think about it. Propped up on the desk of random dude, I see him type in “google search” (WTH!”) on some goofy machine (?): “What happened in 1928” … almost immediately, I see the following appear magically on a white illuminated screen:
United States — Mickey Mouse
The cartoon star Mickey Mouse appears on November 18th in Steamboat Willie.,
United States — The Yo-Yo
Pedro Flores, a Filipino immigrant to the United States, opened the Yo-yo Manufacturing Company in Santa Barbara, California on April 26th .
Amsterdam Summer Olympics
The 1928 Summer Olympics take place during July. They were held in Amsterdam, Netherlands and were the eighth modern Olympic games.
U.S.A. — Lindbergh Congressional Medal of Honor
Charles Lindbergh receives the Congressional Medal of Honor for his non-stop transatlantic flight in the previous year.
United States — Iron Lung
Iron Lung Philip Drinker and Louis A. Shaw professors at the School Of Public Health at Harvard University invent the Iron Lung.
All of that is quite interesting, to be sure, but not as interesting as the little green star after my serial number. I am replacement note. When a printing error occurs during a normal press run and renders a set of bills unusable, replacement notes are used instead … and I am, proudly, one of them. There’s one of me in about every 100,000 bills +/-. … aaaaand, I’m still not worth much more than face value …. aaaand still from Ohio.
More interesting than all these facts and figures are the stories I must keep a secret. Maybe I was in the pockets of Douglas Fairbanks or Al Jolson?…Perhaps Smokin’ hot Marlene Dietrich took me aside to pay for a few meals inside a nightclub in NYC? Simpler so, I could have spent my days nestled in a handbag under the arm of an unassuming housewife, who was donning a Cloche hat, shopping in a small ‘burg somewhere near the big city. One will never know.
Yeah, I was passed around for a while – and it was MAGNIFICENT!!…The last eighty years?…meh. I’m so glad my friend found me today. He’s a gentile man. Doesn’t look at all like the men I last saw before being tossed in a drawer, though. Dressed kinda weird and, …. if you don’t mind me saying so, there’s waaaay too much noise and commotion around. I think you folks have too many people and automobiles…. which look funny also. What’s up with the talking heads in the box arguing? Oh, and those goofy little cigarette packs folks are talking into? ….
Well, I must rest. It’s been a long day. I’ve been dictating this to blog dude because I have no fingers to type. Think I’m strange, do ya? Well, he’s the one listening to paper currency, typing in said words, and pushing “publish”!…. All good. He’s my friend. I think I’ll keep him around.
Sincerely,
Ben Franklin
DougHugs 