We all know what money is and some of us even have some. But there are a lot of fun facts that none of us know about. Some of these facts are ridiculous, some informative and some can even make you rich, or richer than you were before you knew. Here are 5 fun facts of varying types to help fill your heads with more useless knowledge.

Hawaii Coin Law:

There is no doubt there are some ridiculous laws out there. Some so ridiculous that we break the law without even knowing it. In Hawaii it is no different. It is illegal to put coins in your ears in Hawaii. That’s right; you cannot put coins in your ears in Hawaii. I researched and researched and couldn’t find out why. A couple of theories include the fact that Hawaiian coins, the real Hawaiian coins are rare. Before the state became a state they had their own currency. After Hawaii changed to US currency their coins became rare.

Another theory says that having a coin in your ear meant that you had drugs for sale. Now I am not a user but if I was I don’t think I would take a dealer seriously if I saw him wearing quarters in his ears.

It Costs More to Make Less:

Starting in 2006, it costs the United State Mint more than one cent to produce a penny and more than five cents to produce a nickel. In business it is a bad idea to sell a product for less than what it cost to make it, so does it make “cents” to make the value of money worth less than the cost to make it? We all know the value of a dollar is less than what it used to be, but that’s just inflation. If theUS mint keeps this going they may be looking for a loan.

No Nose for Money:

Ever wonder why all coins have the side view profile of the people on them but the dollars have a frontal? The reason for this is there is no room for the nose on the coins. With the coins being a 3D portrait the mint can’t fit the nose on the coin. Yet another useless fact to keep your mind occupied.

Drug Money:

In the 1980’s cocaine was a major part of society. Our currency shows evidence of this. Approximately 90% of dollar bills have traces of cocaine on them. That doesn’t mean that 90% of them was used for snorting cocaine, but cocaine is such a fine powder that it is easily transferred to whatever it touches. Cocaine has also been found on ATM machines, change machines, and snack machines.

The amount of cocaine on a single bill is so minute however that it wont get you high if you start smelling your cash. There are, however ways of getting the cocaine off the bills, which I won’t be explaining. I will say however that it takes an estimated 1032 bills to get a hit of cocaine big enough to get a person high

$.01 = $35,000:

We all hear about the stories of some lucky person finding a rare coin in their pocket and cashing it in for a large pay off. Rare coins are not only possible but are sought after by many collectors. One of the rarest and most valuable coins is actually a penny.

The 1969-S Lincoln penny with a doubled die obverse is a dream for many collectors. When stamped the die stamped the “heads” side twice with the mint mark only stamped once since it was stamped separately back in 1969. The easiest way to see if it was stamped twice is to look at the lettering, especially the word Liberty. It is easy to see the doubling.

This near mint penny mistake can turn that one cent into $35,000. In some auctions it may even bring more. After reading about this penny, I checked my change jar, unfortunately the only way my pennies are going to be worth more than $.01 is in a slot machine.



London resident Thomas Hathaway is a financial consultant and a content contributor for payday-loans.co.uk, a company providing money advances when you need them.