If you remember the 1997 movie Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Dr. Evil who had recently cryogenically time warped from 1967, tried to hold the world hostage under threat of nuclear attack though was laughed at by the United Nations when he initially asked for 1 million dollars, a large amount of money in 1967 but a relatively paltry sum in 1997. He quickly shook off this gaffe, and raised his demands to 100 billion dollars, a much more appropriate inflation adjusted ransom for the scale of his planned crime.
Fast forward another 11 years and it wouldn't take a 30 year nap to be caught off guard by rampant hyperinflation. In 2008 the African country of Zimbabwe experienced hyperinflation at a monthly rate of 3.5 million percent with prices doubling about every day. Their central bank issued notes not only in one million dollar denominations but later in 100 billion dollars and eventually a 100 trillion dollar note was issued before the local currency collapsed completely and was replaced by a basket of foreign currencies including the dollar. These old banknotes are now worthless except as a novelty, but it is inspiring to hold a single bill that could seemingly pay off the entire US national debit as well as the escalating demands of Dr. Evil, if only it held its purported face value.
We have a small collection of these various Zimbabwe bank notes. Between now and January 31st, we'll include one of them in the denomination of our choosing with all orders over $500 including the pre-order offers for iridium and osmium. Enjoy this novelty with our compliments and keep your real valuables safe from Dr. Evil.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKKHSAE1gIs
