Money Trivia

• The lowest figure reached by the Dow Jones Industrial average in the twentieth century was on July 8, 1932, when it stood at 41.22.
• The American Stock Exchange, until 1953, was called the Curb Exchange, dating to the days when all trading was done outside on curbstones and sidewalks. The exchange didn't move indoors until 1921.
• Piggy banks get their name from a type of clay called pygg. Pygg clay was originally used to make jars in which people saved money. Because they were known as pygg jars or pygg banks, they eventually were made in the shape of pigs and later called piggy banks.
• If you wanted to count a billion dollars—one dollar at a time—it would take you thirty-two years if you counted one dollar every second, day and night, day after day, year after year, without stopping.
• A dollar is also called a "buck" because in the early frontier days, the skin of a male deer (or a buck) bought a dollar's worth of goods at the market.
• No living person can be pictured on U.S. currency or stamps. This wasn't always the case. In 1864, the head of the Bureau of Currency, Spencer Clark, decided to put his own portrait on a new issue of money. Congress didn't like this idea and passed a law prohibiting any living person's picture from being shown on currency or stamps. That prevented any official or politician from taking advantage of that kind of publicity.
• Nickels are made of 75 percent copper and only 25 percent nickel.