currency strap

File:80 1 dollar bills in a homemade banknote strap.jpg, made from a loop of paper secured with sellotape]]

Bundling money together with a simple elastic or paper device is as old as paper currency itself. However, measured and standardized straps are a relatively new idea. For example, until the mid-1970s, The US Federal Reserve counted bills by hand. That is, they employed 55 currency counters whose job it was to count as well as, by touch and feel, authenticate bills. However, as the amount of currency in circulation increased, they found that they needed a more efficient way to count currency. To help the Currency Counting staff keep up, the Bank began strap-sorting the $1 to $20 notes. Straps were visually inspected and weighed against a counterweight equal to the paper mass of 100 genuine U.S. notes. Currency straps have even helped catch the culprits in bank robberies, like the Dunbar Armored Robbery in 1997, after one of the culprits decided to pay a real estate broker with a still-strapped bundle of notes.

File:StrappedCurrency.jpg in $10,000 straps. Note the ABA compliant mustard color.]]

As shown in the above table, there are 100 bills in each strap but only 10 straps in each bundle.

{{Portal|Money|Numismatics}}

• Currency packaging
• Currency-counting machine

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Category:Banknotes

Category:Numismatic terminology