Does anyone know how to shrink a Dollar Bill?

GRANDAM

Yes, I know this belongs on the currency forum which it is but this is cool and someone might enjoy seeing this shrunken REAL US Dollar Bill.
I bought this shrunken dollar years ago at a show and I always wondered how it was done. I know it was a chemical reaction but does anyone know what chemical and the steps to do it? I would like to try it if the chemicals won't kill me and if it is not illegal?

GRANDAM

OK, I never remember this until after the fact but any time I ask my son something he tells me to "GOOGLE IT" so I did.
https://youtu.be/QEtO3_iq8r4

Texast

DO NOT! I repeat, Do Not go to a chemical supply store looking to buy Anhydrous Ammonia, if you do you may not make it out of the door before you are ARRESTED!

Anhydrous Ammonia is one of the main chemicals used in the production of Methamphetamine, it is also mainly used as a fertilizer in crop production. if you are not a farmer growing such crops and you try to get anhydrous ammonia which you would purchase by a tanker full at a time you will get arrested for conspiracy to manufacture Schedule 1 Narcotics. It is a very controlled chemical that you don't want to mess with just to shrink a dollar bill. You've been warned.

blitzdude

Just hold onto it for a year, inflation will shrink it for you.

GRANDAM

Thanks that is good advice,,,,,, I did not know it was used to make Meth!

I actually grew up on a farm and used Anhydrous Ammonia as a fertilizer on corn which greatly increased the yield. It comes out as a gas under high pressure and drips a small amount of liquid but I don't know how you would convert it to a liquid and be able to use it. If you ever get a wiff of it, it will suck all the air out of your lungs and you can't breathe. It will also burn your skin and is pretty nasty stuff.

I guess that I will have to scrap this idea.

Oldhoopster

Anhydrous ammonia is cool stuff. I had a tank of it when I was doing my graduate thesis years ago. 6NH3 + SiCl4 --> Si(NH)2 + 4NH4Cl. The silicon diimide is a precursor to silicon nitride when heated above 1000C.

Had to do everything inside an inert atmosphere glove box. Interesting thing was the NH3 turned the copper tubing blue. Too bad blast white coins were preferred at the time. I could have made a fortune toning Indian cents the blue color that everybody seems to want today

BackroadJunkie

@Texast said:
DO NOT! I repeat, Do Not go to a chemical supply store looking to buy Anhydrous Ammonia, if you do you may not make it out of the door before you are ARRESTED!

Anhydrous Ammonia is one of the main chemicals used in the production of Methamphetamine, it is also mainly used as a fertilizer in crop production. if you are not a farmer growing such crops and you try to get anhydrous ammonia which you would purchase by a tanker full at a time you will get arrested for conspiracy to manufacture Schedule 1 Narcotics. It is a very controlled chemical that you don't want to mess with just to shrink a dollar bill. You've been warned.

Yeah, it killed me that I bought some Sudafed once and had to show ID. I thought they kept it behind the counter because people were stealing it, not because it was a precursor to meth, lol.

Hemispherical

75% cotton, 25% linen is the material content of a FRN.

I'm going to stay away from this chemical; and isn't shrinking a FRN a defacement of currency?

Defacement of currency is a violation of Title 18, Section 333 of the United States Code. Under this provision, currency defacement is generally defined as follows: Whoever mutilates, cuts, disfigures, perforates, unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, Federal Reserve Bank, or Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such item(s) unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

Visit www.secretservice.gov for additional information.

---

Hate it when it comes to any type of clothes; i.e., if it wasn't pre-shrunk then you got a shirt 1-2 sizes smaller.

PerryHall

The Federal Reserve has been doing a pretty good job of shrinking the dollar since 1913.

SiriusBlack

I reached a point in my photography where I need to get potassium cyanide. Apparently that’s going to require a business license and some hoops to jump though which I haven’t wanted to bother with so for the moment I’ve kinda put that process on the back burner.

Plus, you know, cyanide......

derryb

check with the Federal Reserve. They've been shrinking them for over 100 years.

oih82w8

Would hot water wash and a hot dryer work? Seriously.

GRANDAM

@oih82w8 said:
Would hot water wash and a hot dryer work? Seriously.

I await the results of your experiment,,,,,,, let us know if it works.

Paradisefound

Cool .... its a Mini Me why would you need more shrunk bills? Should I send you a new bigger wallet?

GRANDAM

I wanted a set of $1 - $2 - $5 - $10 - $20 - $50 & $100 bills,,,

,> @Paradisefound said:

Cool .... its a Mini Me why would you need more shrunk bills? Should I send you a new bigger wallet?

Only if you fill it with $100 bills before sending it

thebeav

There's a shrunken 'one' on fleabay for 50 bucks !

FredWeinberg

I'm the source for 98% of these shrunken US FRN's.

A person used a lab at UCLA to shrink them with some
type of liquid chemical - it shrunk the note, didn't distort
the designs, and about the only way you could tell they
were not printed exactly like that was because the 'starch'
that shrunk the notes left them a bit 'stiff' (like starching a shirt)
and thicker than a normal note, which makes sense, because
it's the same amount of paper on a normal sized note, but
now smaller.

I bought them for about 12-15 years, always providing the
person with crisp packs of notes to use in the process.

We did other denominations too, including some 8-subject
sheets from the BEP.

I haven't bought them in over 6-8 years, as the 'source' has
disappeared.

Hope this info and background helps

GRANDAM

That is exactly right, the note is stiff and thicker than normal.

RogerB

Fred - Excellent information! Should be incorporated into a reference so that the truth will be known fro future collectors.

AUandAG

@FredWeinberg said:
I'm the source for 98% of these shrunken US FRN's.

A person used a lab at UCLA to shrink them with some
type of liquid chemical - it shrunk the note, didn't distort
the designs, and about the only way you could tell they
were not printed exactly like that was because the 'starch'
that shrunk the notes left them a bit 'stiff' (like starching a shirt)
and thicker than a normal note, which makes sense, because
it's the same amount of paper on a normal sized note, but
now smaller.

I bought them for about 12-15 years, always providing the
person with crisp packs of notes to use in the process.

We did other denominations too, including some 8-subject
sheets from the BEP.

I haven't bought them in over 6-8 years, as the 'source' has
disappeared.

Hope this info and background helps

Hope your "source" isn't in the Fed Pen.

bob

FredWeinberg

No, not at all.

He, or I never had a problem - they were sold as
novelty items; never spent as genuine bills, although
they could have.

No different, imo, than a colorized note.

ricko

When I was a young fellow, we would take new bills and repeatedly crumple and crush them (no chemicals), and then when unfolded they would be noticeably smaller ....Not as small as those ammonia treated bills though... Cheers, RickO

seanq

@FredWeinberg said:
I'm the source for 98% of these shrunken US FRN's.

A person used a lab at UCLA to shrink them with some
type of liquid chemical - it shrunk the note, didn't distort
the designs, and about the only way you could tell they
were not printed exactly like that was because the 'starch'
that shrunk the notes left them a bit 'stiff' (like starching a shirt)
and thicker than a normal note, which makes sense, because
it's the same amount of paper on a normal sized note, but
now smaller.

I bought them for about 12-15 years, always providing the
person with crisp packs of notes to use in the process.

We did other denominations too, including some 8-subject
sheets from the BEP.

I haven't bought them in over 6-8 years, as the 'source' has
disappeared.

Hope this info and background helps

Last seen September, 2013.

Sean Reynolds

FredWeinberg

Sean, I don't recognize the person last seen ??

thebeav

That's Heisenberg Fred.
Walter White from 'Breaking Bad'........

Broadstruck

FWIW these days $100 bills shrink faster than $1 bills

OldEastside

@GRANDAM said:

@oih82w8 said:
Would hot water wash and a hot dryer work? Seriously.

I await the results of your experiment,,,,,,, let us know if it works.

Naw, That's laundering money

Steve

GRANDAM

It is too bad bills can't be shrunk without using a chemical used to make drugs,,,,,,, the mini bills are neat and the detail remains as good as in the large bill.

1630Boston

https://youtu.be/ap4GuZffrvg

Onastone

Occasionally a few bills go through my washer and sometimes dryer. Do they look cleaner? Maybe. But you know what they say about cleaning money......don't do it. Oh yeah, and the joke around here is when you find the bills have been washed, someone always says,"Oh you're laundering money again!"

Cameonut

I don't care so much about physical size. I care about value.
If we keep printing money like we have for the past few decades, the value of the dollar will go to heck.

privatecoin

@Cameonut said:
I don't care so much about physical size. I care about value.
If we keep printing money like we have for the past few decades, the value of the dollar will go to heck.

Yep. Although I usually say the dollar was doomed in 1913.