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He started in 1938 and was arrested in 1948:
1938 23.42
1943 19.09
1948 13.70
Fun fact: in parts of East Africa, a $50 bill may be worth about 60-70 $1 dollar bills, due to the $1 bill being easier to counterfeit (and also more likely worn down).
In parts of the USA (well, amazon.com), you can buy bills of $10,000,000,000 from Africa for very little. example: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L3536O2
In other words, Africa is a big place. Just say "Zimbabwe".
The article doesn't explain why the Secret Service made this their biggest case, and it doesn't make much sense to me. If the dollars were accepted by the general population, it would cause an infinitesimal increase in inflation of no consequence to others. And if shopkeepers wised up to the false dollars and rejected them, at worst he was defrauding the public by a few hundred dollars a year. In either eventuality, surely the Secret Service had more notorious counterfeiters to track down?
> 10 years went by and the search for Mister 880 turned into the largest and most expensive counterfeit investigation in Secret Service history. The article doesn't explain why the Secret Service made this their biggest case, and it doesn't make much sense to me. If the dollars were accepted by the general population, it would cause an infinitesimal increase in inflation of no consequence to others. And if shopkeeper…
One dollar in 1943 is worth about $19 today's dollars. He started in 1938 and was arrested in 1948: 1938 23.42 1943 19.09 1948 13.70 Enough to buy some supplies, but how did he pay the rent? Perhaps he owned his apartment. https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1948?amount=1
Attempting this today would probably surely cost that much in today's dollars?
EDIT: on a second thought ..this almost feels like "proof of work" for currency :)
I see what they did there.
Is it possible that he might have spent almost $1 in materials and labor and allocated capital expenses on equipment ... to create each of these counterfeits. Attempting this today would probably surely cost that much in today's dollars? EDIT: on a second thought ..this almost feels like "proof of work" for currency :)
>He was also made to pay a fine of $1 I wonder if the cashier checked the bill closely when he paid it.
>He was also made to pay a fine of $1 I wonder if the cashier checked the bill closely when he paid it.