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TRUMP TO PUT SIGNATURE ON U.S. CURRENCYI suppose we could have predicted this, but it got a lot of attention when it hit the news Thursday. I first saw it in what Vanity Fair said was an exclusive report, but the word traveled like wildfire and I quickly thereafter got alerts from other publications and several readers. Thanks to everyone who sent it along. Here's an excerpt from that Vanity Fair piece. -Editor 
Composite image courtesy Greysheet President Donald Trump has spent much of his second term in office working to leave his mark on Washington, DC. He's draped enormous banners of his face over government buildings, plastered his name onto the Carrara walls of the Kennedy Center, and covered the White House in gold accents while demolishing the East Wing to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom. Now the Trump administration is taking another unprecedented step toward brand ubiquity: The Treasury Department plans to add the president's signature to US currency. Trump's autograph will be added to all denominations of US bills, Vanity Fair has learned, replacing that of the treasurer for the first time in 165 years. The process of developing new printing plates is underway, I'm told, and the new bills will go into circulation in the coming months. The measure is not temporary: Trump's name will appear on bills until a future administration decides to take it off. This will be the first time in US history that the sitting president's signature appears on American currency. Trump's signature will replace that of Treasurer Brandon Beach, and sit alongside the signature of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. When reached for comment, Beach confirmed the plan in a statement to Vanity Fair.
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Here's an excerpt from a New York Times piece. -Editor President Trump's signature will appear on U.S. dollars later this year, the Treasury Department said on Thursday. The decision to have Mr. Trump's John Hancock on America's paper currency represented an unprecedented change, one that the department said was being made in honor of the United States' 250th anniversary. The history of who gets to sign the money dates to 1861, when President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill allowing the Treasury secretary to delegate the treasurer of the United States to sign Treasury notes and bonds. According to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1914 was the first year that the Treasury secretary and the treasurer started signing the currency together. During the Biden administration, there was a delay in adding Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen's signature to the money because President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was slow to appoint a new treasurer. It is not clear whether Mr. Trump's signature will appear on all currency notes. The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment. The signatures on the U.S. bank notes traditionally change when a new Treasury secretary assumes the job. The Treasury secretary has the discretion to make changes to currency designs. Larry Felix, who served as director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing from 2006 to 2015, said that the addition of Mr. Trump's signature was an "unusual" move but noted previous discussions about adding the signature of the Federal Reserve chair to the currency.
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David Axelrod posted: "A truly ironic way to mark the 250th anniversary of our independence from a mad king!" One internet wag posted: "Blimey, that'll keep him busy seeing as he refuses to use an Autopen." The Reuters news service noted that Trump will now join "a small band of sitting leaders, often associated with autocratic rule, whose autographs or images have through history graced their currencies" - Mobutu Sese Seko of the Congo, Idi Amin Dada of Uganda, Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya, presidents Sukarno and Suharto of Indonesia, Ferdinand Marcos Sr and Jr of the Philippines, and Julius Nyerere of Tanzania. -Editor
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I enjoyed this hot take from the National Review. -Editor.
When We Said, ‘Trump Should Sign the Bill,' We Meant Something Different
Look at it this way; at least President Trump isn't putting his face on American currency. If the U.S. dollar could survive Jack Lew's signature, which looked like either a row of Cheerios or the squiggle you draw when you're not sure the pen is working, it can survive this.
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Jacob Lew's signature 
Donald Trump's signature Well, Trump isn't putting his face on American currency yet, but here's a mockup from The Street. -Editor 
Nobody ever got upset with (or even noticed) the poor obscure Treasurer of the U.S. whose signature will now be missing from currency. One reader predicted that the new notes "will be widely defaced". It's been a while since I've seen reports of overstamped notes in circulation, but I'll be on the lookout. Another numismatist wrote that with inflation heating up again, the signature will remind the public of who made them "not worth a Continental." -Editor In the any-publicity-is-good-publicity department, Larry Jewett's article for Greysheet quotes some hobby leaders expecting a boost for numismatics. -Editor Unconfirmed reports indicate the first of the notes to bear the signatures of Trump and Bessent will be the $100 notes, which are currently only printed at the Washington, D.C. facility. The first notes are expected to be available by summer just in time for the start of the nation's 250th anniversary celebration festivities in July. A request for additional information from the Treasury was not answered. While the decision can be considered historic, the impact of the action will have different meaning for different factions. The general public likely pays little attention to the signatures on the notes in everyday commerce and may not be keenly aware of the change. For collectors, it's a bit of a different story. "Anything that increases awareness of paper money is good for collecting and the hobby, said Arthur Friedberg, co-author of Paper Money of the United States. "It can stimulate collecting as it will make people aware of all the signature types that can be collected." "Some collectors will think this is a great opportunity to set aside something that might gain value," said Dustin Johnston, senior vice president of Heritage Auctions. "However, the volume of notes the Bureau of Engraving and Printing produces daily will make these issues very common." "I was blown away hearing the news that Trump's signature will soon appear on our United States paper money," said Robert Calderman, current president of the Society of Paper Money Collectors and owner of Paper Money Depot in Georgia. "Whether you love the man or despise him, this is absolutely great news for the paper money collecting community. While we all hoped to see something more akin to the 1896 Educational Series making a modern return, having the president's autograph appear on our currency for the first time in history will send a shockwave throughout the world and no doubt have a ripple effect that will positively impact the growth of our hobby." In my role here at The E-Sylum I'm an editor, not a reporter, and I'll take this opportunity to again recognize the important role that numismatic reporters hold in the hobby. We need these good folks to dig up new stories, interview experts, and get the word out, especially when new developments occur. -Editor
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To read the Treasury Department press release (link courtesy Kavan Ratnatunga), see:
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Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: Subscribe All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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