See a $100,000 bill and get a bag of shredded cash at Philly Federal Reserve

The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)

PHILADELPHIA — For better or worse, most people are pretty interested in money, but it’s actually pretty hard to make money itself interesting.

Sure, we want to get it and spend it, but how often do those of us outside of the financial sector think about how our monetary system functions beyond making sure our checks are deposited, our bills are paid, and we can get cash when we want it?

I learned just how little I knew when I got a sneak peek tour of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s redesigned "Money in Motion" exhibit with Andrew Hill, assistant vice president of economic education.

Even if you already know the role and history of the Federal Reserve, I’d bet a pretty penny you’ll be impressed by the rare coins and notes on display, including a $100,000 bill and a 1907 Saint-Gaudens High-Relief Double Eagle gold coin, valued at upward of $35,000, which Hill told me is "considered to be (one of) the most beautiful coins ever produced in the United States."

Kids are most likely to be enthralled by the bags of shredded cash given to each visitor called "Fed Shreds" and by an interactive game in which you play the role of a checkout clerk at a cheesesteak shop who has to figure out whether bills are counterfeit.

"We think that is going to be incredibly popular," Hill said.

‘Demystifying

it’

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia — which is led by President and Chief Executive Anna Paulson — first opened a free public exhibit inside its doors in 2003. Over the last eight years, staffers have reimagined the experience and since April 2025, the exhibit has been closed to the public as it underwent a redesign. It will reopen June 4, just in time for the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations.

"When you say Federal Reserve, I think there’s a group of people who know exactly what you’re talking about and then there’s a group of people who are like, ‘Is that a park?’" Paulson said in an interview. "So this is partly demystifying it, opening doors, and bringing people in."

As the nation’s central bank, the Federal Reserve regulates banks, oversees payment systems, and provides financial services, including stockpiling cash to make sure there’s enough to meet demand. It’s broken into 12 regional branches and the leaders of those branches, including Paulson, serve on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which sets interest rates in the country with the goal of promoting low and stable inflation and high employment.

"We’re here to provide stability and so 90% of the time you don’t have to think about us and that’s awesome, right? Turn on the water, water comes out. But there’s all this plumbing that’s driving the financial system," Paulson said. " … So I think that regardless of who you are, you’re going to walk out with, ‘Oh, I understand a little bit more about the economy, about money, about history, and the role that the Federal Reserve (and) the Philly Fed plays in the community and then in the economy.’"

Computer games and cashfetti

After going through a security check and watching a four-minute video, guests enter the exhibit through a facsimile vault door (so many people who toured the old exhibit asked to see the vaults, they created a fake one).

Inside, visitors learn through an interactive lock-box experience about what it takes for money to work well and various things that have been used as money over time that didn’t pan out, like dried fish.

Other exhibits are about price stability, the creation of the Federal Reserve, and how it keeps cash flowing. It’s in the latter exhibit where you pick up your bag of "Fed Shreds," cash that the Federal Reserve has determined to be damaged or worn out and subsequently shredded into itty bitty pieces you can now use as cashfetti.

While the exhibit does its best to keep kids interested with computer games, some were pretty dry, even for me. The touch-screen interactive boardroom table that gives users a seat at a FOMC meeting and has them set interests rates was visually interesting, but I can’t see the content keeping kids’ attention span for long.

The game where you try to spot counterfeit bills as a cheesesteak shop worker, using various methods like UV lighting, will definitely be a money shot with the kids though.

Treasures and evolutions

For me, the highlight was learning and seeing the evolution of money in the United States over time and viewing more than 400 pieces of the Philly Federal Reserve’s collection of treasures, many of which haven’t been displayed for more than two decades.

Of course, there’s the $100,000 bill, the largest note ever printed in the country, which features Woodrow Wilson on the front because he was president when the Federal Reserve Act was signed in 1913. Just 42,000 of these bills were made and only a few are known to be on display, including one at the Smithsonian. It’s actually illegal for an individual to own this tender — it was created only to be exchanged between Federal Reserve Banks.

Along with the 1907 Saint-Gaudens High-Relief Double Eagle gold coin I mentioned above, other impressive coins include two of the first 6,200 quarters minted here in Philadelphia in 1796 (valued at around $25,000 each) and a collection of coins from the California Gold Rush.

I particularly loved the paper note collection on display featuring distinctly unique bills from each the original 13 colonies that were made on printing presses and there’s even counterfeit note from back in the day from National Mechanics Bank, which is now a bar in Old City.

Hill told me that before the Civil War, there were up to 7,000 different types of currency in use in the country.

"Once upon a time it was hard to do business in the United States with paper currency because there was all these different currencies that were all co-circulating at the same time in this period," he said. "The real message is today we have a currency that we can use that we have great confidence in, and a lot of that’s because of the work of the Federal Reserve as well as (our) partners in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing."

The Federal Reserve of Philadelphia — which hopes to welcome 20,000 guests a year, many of them schoolchildren — estimates that the small exhibit takes 30 to 60 minutes to explore, but I spent nearly two hours in there and probably could have spent more.

"I think when people understand a little bit more about the economy and the role that some of our really critical institutions play in it, it helps you feel a little more in control of your life," Paulson said. "You understand things a little bit more deeply, and then you can take that curiosity where you want it to go."

Given that the cost to get in is nothing and you leave with a free bag of shredded cash, you technically make money by going, even if there’s no way you could glue those minuscule shreds back together.

Know before you go:

"Money in Motion" debuted June 4 and will be open to the public from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern time (last admittance is at 4 p.m.) Monday to Friday. The exhibit is open Saturdays July 4 to Aug. 15.

The Federal Reserve of Philadelphia is located at 10 Independence Mall. The entrance is on 6th Street between Race and Arch Streets.

Visitors are required to go through a security screening and adults over 18 need a photo ID to enter.

The exhibit is free and no advance tickets are required for groups smaller than 15 people. Larger groups can RSVP at PHIL.Exhibit@phil.frb.org.

No weapons, food, or beverages are allowed.

A bag of "Fed Shreds" given free to each visitor at the newly redesigned "Money in Motion" exhibit at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia on May 7.

Tom Gralish/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

A $100,000 bill, the largest note ever printed in the country, on display at the newly redesigned "Money in Motion" exhibit at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia on May 7.

Tom Gralish/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

The front and back of a 1907 $20 gold piece, also known as a Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle, on display at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

Tom Gralish/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS