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Why Are There So Many New $50 Bills in Circulation — and Is It Worth Collecting Them?

December 14, 2023

3 min Read

Written by Vance Cariaga

Edited by Daria Uhlig

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If you ranked the popularity of American currency, $50 bills would probably land somewhere near the bottom. Trying to spend one at a store isn’t always easy because stores might not want to make change for a fifty. Another problem is that it’s easy to get a $50 bill mixed up with other currency — and some people even consider them bad luck. But despite their unpopularity, an awful lot of $50 bills are in circulation right now.

That’s mainly because a record number of the notes were printed last year — more than 756 million, CNN reported, citing data from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. That was the highest total for the $50 bill in more than 40 years. In 2019, only 3.5% of all U.S. bills printed were $50, but that percentage more than doubled to 8.5% in 2022.

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The reason so many $50 bills are making the rounds these days mainly has to do with the COVID-19 pandemic, when people started hoarding cash — not so much because they planned to spend it, but because they just liked the comfort of having cash on hand during uncertain economic and political times. It was easier to build up a large cash trove with $50 bills than smaller denominations, which increased their demand.

The printing of different denominationshas returned to normal levels this year, according to CNN. The main driver of orders in 2023 is to replace damaged notes. The Federal Reserve’s order for $50 bills to be produced in 2024 is less than one-third the total in 2022. But it’s usually not new bills that catch the attention of collectors.

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“Consumers continue to hold a significant amount of cash that may be unlikely to be used for daily purchases,” according to a Fed report. Any $50 bills printed recently will be worth face value. But you can find older versions worth large sums of money.

As previously reported by GOBankingRates, rare $50 notes issued during the 19th century can fetch tens of thousands of dollars on the collectibles market. But even more modern $50 bills in wider circulation are worth $250 or more in average condition. A lot depends on when the bill was issued and what kinds of features it has.

Certain 1923 bills, called Porthole notes, have values that range from a few hundred dollars in poor condition to thousands of dollars in very good condition. In some instances, bills with rare serial numbers will make the bills worth a lot more than that.

As with many collectibles, the values of $50 bills are all over the map — from face value to $20,000 and more.

If you have an old $50 bill lying around, pay close attention to its year, color, condition and serial number. For example, a 1928 Series Gold Seal $50 bill can fetch up to $250 even in average condition, according to Old Money Prices.

Here are some other $50 bills worth $100 or more in average condition: