Fun Facts about SEK and USD!

By Magnus Hansén

Here we share some fun and wierd facts about the US Dollar and the Swedish Krona. First of is the dollar:

Fun facts about the US dollar

* No $2 bill has been issued since 2003. The two dollar bill makes up for less than 1% of all dollar bill production.

* Contrary to popular belief, the $2 has no value as a collectable. They are, in fact, worth $2.

* Some believe that possessing a 2 dollar bill is bad luck. Supposedly, tearing off a corner of the bill can end the bad luck streak.

* A bill will not last forever. Sooner or later, the bill will be worn out from the everyday use and circulation. Most people would probably think that all the bills will last the same amount of time, but this is not the case. A $1 bill will last about 18 months, a $5 bill for 2 years. The pattern is that the higher the value on the bill is, the longer it will last. The $10 bill lasts for 3 years; the $20 dollar bill for 4 years and lastly, the $100 bill will last up to 9 years.

*Almost half (48%) of the US dollars produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing are $1 bills. Replacing the 1 dollar bills with coins would save the US government $4.4 billion over thirty years, but is not supported by the public as very few Americans want to give up their dollar bills.

* Each day, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing produces nearly 38 millions of bills. The total value of those bills is estimated to be around $541 million dollars, which is roughly the same number as the total revenue of some of the United States of America's biggest companies.

* Throughout history, there has only been one woman represented on the US dollar bills. First lady and wife of George Washington, Martha Washington's face appeared on the $1 Silver Certificate in 1886 and 1891 along with the back of the Silver Certificate issued in 1896.

* To this day, there have been no African-Americans portrayed on the currency. There have, however, been African-American signatures from those serving as Registers of the Treasury or Treasury of the United States.

* In an attempt to rule out organized crime, President Nixon decided to stop the circulation of high-denomination bills. Technically, the $500-$100,000 bills are still legal, but were discontinued in 1969 and are rarely found today.

* A project called Where's George?, started by Hank Eskin in 1998, allows you to track US dollar bills that have the Where's George? stamp and a serial number on. The tracking can be done through a website with the same name ("Where's George?"). The project was started just for fun and has no profit aspirations, according to its founder. The founder, Hank Eskin, says it is merely a way to watch your currency make its way across the country. 1 dollar bills are the most commonly tracked bills and the bill that has been tracked the most times as of 2014, is a one dollar bill that has been entered into the Where's George system fifteen times. According to the Where's George? website, stamping the US dollar bills is not a crime unless the stamp causes the bill to become invalid.

* It is possible to acquire uncut US dollar bill sheets from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. These are sometimes deemed collectibles, depending on each sheet's rarity.

As you can surely tell, both the Swedish and US currencies have rich history to their names and are of great importance on both their own national markets and the global market today. Currency exchanges between the two currencies allow its nations' citizens to travel freely between the countries and share each other's cultures, services and products. Both Swedish and US government officials work hard to ensure that the currencies stay safe and protected from counterfeiting and other illegal activities, a job that is becoming increasingly hard but all the more honorable.

If there is ever to be merely one global currency, be sure never to forget about "Where's George", the Swedish kronor publicity stunt and the other stories told about the Swedish krona and US dollar!

Fun facts about the Swedish krona

* Despite being used in only one country, the Swedish krona happens to be the 7th most traded currency in the world.

* In English, the Swedish currency is often referred to as Swedish crown or crowns because the word "krona" in Swedish simply means crown.

* The Swedish coin worth 5 kronor is the biggest one, size-wise, even though it does not actually have the highest value. The most valuable coin, the 10 kronor coin, is instead the smallest, but thickest.

* In order to use a shopping cart in a Swedish grocery store, you usually have to insert a 5 or 10 kronor coin into a slot on the shopping cart. Upon returning the shopping cart to its proper place after your grocery shopping is done, as well ass attaching it to the shopping cart in front of it, the coin will be returned. There are many "fake" 5 or 10 kronor coins circulating the country that are made simply to be used in shopping cart slots. These coins cannot be used as actual currency as they are visibly different from real coins and often have a marketing message on the back of them to prevent counterfeit claims.

* In 2012, a copywriter and amateur artist produced counterfeit 10 kronor coins where the usual quote had been replaced with "Vår horkarl till kung", which translates to Our man whore of a king. The coins received massive publicity, of both good and bad variety. The artist stated that he was not at all afraid of legal actions, despite having been the producer of counterfeit currency.

* Not having "ett rött öre", or "one red öre", is a Swedish way of saying that you are broke or have very little money to your name.

* Swedish kronor coins currently have the sitting King, Carl XVI Gustaf's, motto "För Sverige - i tiden" written on them. This means "For Sweden - in time".