The United States ten-dollar bill ($10) is a denomination of United States currency. The first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, is currently featured on the obverse of the bill, while the U.S. Treasury is featured on the reverse. (Hamilton is one of two non-presidents featured on currently issued U.S. bills. The other is Benjamin Franklin, on the $100 bill. In addition to this, Hamilton is one of only two persons featured on U.S. currency who was not born in the continental United States, as he was from the West Indies. The other, Kamehameha I, appears on the 2008 Hawaii state quarter.) All $10 bills issued today are Federal Reserve Notes.
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing says the average life of a $10 bill in circulation is 18 months before it is replaced due to wear. Approximately 6% of all US banknotes printed in 2009 were $10 bills. Ten dollar bills are delivered by Federal Reserve Banks in yellow straps.
The source of the face on the $10 bill is John Trumbull’s 1805 portrait of Hamilton that belongs to the portrait collection of New York City Hall. The $10 bill is the only U.S. paper currency in circulation in which the portrait faces to the left (the $100,000 bill featured a portrait of Woodrow Wilson facing to the left, but was used only for intra-government transactions).
Read more about United States Ten-dollar Bill: Large Size Note History, Small Size Note History, Nicknames
Famous quotes containing the words ten-dollar bill, united states, united, states, ten-dollar and/or bill:
“You must think I am a high-priced man.... Fifteen dollars is enough for the job. I send you a receipt for fifteen dollars, and return to you a ten-dollar bill.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“In a moment when criticism shows a singular dearth of direction every man has to be a law unto himself in matters of theatre, writing, and painting. While the American Mercury and the new Ford continue to spread a thin varnish of Ritz over the whole United States there is a certain virtue in being unfashionable.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“Why doesn’t the United States take over the monarchy and unite with England? England does have important assets. Naturally the longer you wait, the more they will dwindle. At least you could use it for a summer resort instead of Maine.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)
“How many ages hence
Shall this our lofty scene be acted over
In states unborn and accents yet unknown!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don’t know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
“It is my belief that there are “absolutes” in our Bill of Rights, and that they were put there on purpose by men who knew what words meant, and meant their prohibitions to be “absolute.””
—Hugo Black (b. 1922)