I just sent something new to paid members, and I thought you should see it.
A 1910 German 1000-mark note, almost worthless a decade later.
It's about money. Not the numbers on it. The paper itself.
A banknote is just cotton and ink that costs a few cents to make.
So how does something so ordinary end up running the world?
I found 22,000 notes to answer that. The security tricks hidden in the paper. What happens to a currency the week its government falls. The exact moment a note becomes worth nothing at all.
You can zoom into every one of them, and probably find the notes you grew up holding.
A US $100 bill, the most copied note on Earth.
A 1 rupee note from British India.
A Tsarist Russian 100 rouble note.
This is the first Data Drop I've made exclusively for members.
The Tuesday editions stay free, always. Membership starts at $10/month, or whatever you'd like to pay.
