Special Gift For Goldbugs: Shredded U.S. Currency

Although currently out of stock, the U.S. Bureau of Printing and Engraving did sell bags of shredded Federal Feserve Notes with approximately $10,000' worth therein for $45. Globe and Mail blogger David Berman observes that it makes a great gift for a goldbug. (I'm sure the shreds won't add up to even $45 worth of legal tender, try as some might to reassemble them.)

Here’s an ideal gift item for the gold bug in your life: A five pound bag of shredded U.S. currency.

Now, $45 (U.S.) might sound like a steep price to pay for such a product, especially if you feared that it contained filler – such as inferior currencies like, well, the Zimbabwe dollar.... [T]he gold bugs come in [because] these shredded notes provide a lovely metaphor for their beloved commodity, which is widely seen as an ideal store of money in an era when the value of paper money is being, wait for it, “shredded.”

In the spirit of fun, there's another line of gag currency that would be a treat for a goldbug. Right now, the Bureau produces bills in no higher than $100 denomination. Legal tender, as far as I know, stops at $1,000: that leaves higer denominations up for grabs in the fake department. You've seen those fake million-dollar bills? How about one with Ben Bernanke's face on it, from the "Reserve Bank Of Inflation?"

"This note is worth its intrinsic value for all debts, public and private."

[Oh, yes. The back of the note needs a helicopter dispensing you-know-what.]