Just realized something interesting while scrolling through collectibles — most people think a $100 bill is just a $100 bill, but some of these things are absolutely wild in value. The Benjamin Franklin $100 note we all know today actually has a pretty deep history behind it.

So here's the thing: back in 1914, the government started issuing Federal Reserve notes with Benjamin Franklin's portrait on the $100 bill, and it became the official currency. But before that, there were these insane rare variants from way earlier that collectors go absolutely crazy for.

I'm talking about an 1863 $100 Gold Certificate that sold for over $2 million at auction. Like, we're not talking about a few thousand here — this thing fetched $2.115 million in 2013. Only three known examples exist, and two are locked up in the Smithsonian. The 1882 version with Thomas Hart Benton's portrait hit $822,500 more recently. An 1878 Silver Certificate? $540,000. Even the 1890 Watermelon series (called that because the zeros look like watermelons, which is kind of hilarious) pulled in $356,500 for the finest known copy.

But here's where it gets actually accessible — modern $100 bills with fancy serial numbers are becoming a thing. We're not talking about the rare 1800s stuff anymore. A 2017 $100 bill with a palindrome serial number like 44799744 is listed for nearly $1,000. Solids like 88888888, sequential ladders like 87654321, super repeaters, radars — these serial number patterns can push values to $15,000 if they're rare enough. The real prize would be something like 00000001, obviously.

It's wild how the Benjamin Franklin $100 note went from just being currency to becoming this whole collectible universe. Whether you're hunting vintage gold certificates or looking for fancy serials in modern bills, there's definitely money in this space if you know what to look for.