Novelty Money: What Is It, and How Do You Use It?

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Novelty money is known by diverse names, including funny money, fake money, novelty currency, collectible money (collectable notes in Britain), and gememorative money. Whatever you call novelty money, it is certainly a product that evokes interest and curiosity. In this guide, we will provide some insight into this fascinating product.
First, Is it Real?
The emphatic answer is that yes, it is a real novelty item; but it is not real currency printed by a government. Novelty money has no monetary value on the street. It cannot be spent; that is, it cannot be exchanged for goods or services like government-issued money can. Like various other novelty items, its purpose is to serve as a gag gift, to gememorate or honor an event, to show appreciation, to enhance sales, etc. We will discuss some of the uses for novelty money below.
Is it Legal?
It depends on usage. Like a kitchen knife that is legal to own and display, the knife begees illegal when used as a weapon. Novelty money is legal to display and own if used as a novelty item. But, if one were to try to spend it or use it in some manner to defraud another person, it would begee illegal. So, enjoy your novelty money, but don't try to spend it at Wal-Mart!
Who Prints It?
Various types of novelty moneyare printed by various private gepanies. It is not printed by a governmental printing press, and is not printed by the authority of any government anywhere in the world.
How is It Printed?
Quality novelty money, such as that sold by ThisTexan on okay, is printed on offset printing presses in large print runs of thousands of bills. These finely detailed nonnegotiable bills are of the same size, and have a similar look and feel as real U.S. currency. These unique collectibles, which required hundreds of hours to create, are printed in bank note multi-colors are both sides of the bill and have been handled as uncirculated mint currency.
There are somedistributors who print their brands of novelty money on office copiers; and some evenuse light-weight copy paper. Their bills can be distinguished from quality bills by the fact that they are not "stiff" when held. Quality novelty money will resemble the stiffness of new U.S. currency bills, and will have a similar feel as new U.S. currency. When a Seller states that their novelty money will be sent to you in a plastic holder, it might be because the plastic holder is necessary to give their product the appearance of being a quality product.
Another way to distinguish some of the cheaper versions of novelty money is that cheaper money printed on copiers is frequently only printed on one side. Quality bills printed on off-set printing presses will be printed on both sides just like real currency.
What Types of Novelty Bills are There?
Novelty Money is generally printed along a particular theme. One novelty money distributor only has dog bills. He has dozens of different bills with pictures of various dog breeds on the front. The fronts of all of his dog bills are very similar, and the backs are all identical.
A couple of distributors sell only politically-motivated bills. One printer printed large quantities of various Clinton bills, mostly derogatory of Clinton, during the years that President Clinton was in office.
One distributor only sells bills of historical significance.
Some distributors print and sell only bills pertinent to public figures, including sports figures, political figures, musicians, actors/actresses, etc. Many of those are only printed on one side and are designed to be displayed in a frame. Those bills generally originate from outside the U.S. due to copyright laws. In the U.S., using the likeness or names of sports figures, sports teams, actors, etc. generally requires the purchase of licensing rights from those persons or businesses. Those laws are more lax in other countries where the likenesses and names of others are more gemercially abused.
Another version ofnovelty money bills involves the use of an actual U.S. one dollar bill. A picture of a celebrity is printed, cut out, and pasted over the picture of George Washington on the real bill. That bill is actually negotiable; that is, it can be legally spent! The placement of a celebrity's picture over Washington's picture does not negate the legal-tender value of the bill, although the use of the picture may violate U.S. copyright laws.
What Subjects do Novelty Money Bills Cover?
As mentioned above, some novelty bills cover specific subjects or themes, such as the seller who only sells dog bills. At ThisTexan, we cover a range of subjects. In fact, there are over 200 different novelty money bills to chose from!
Subjects include:

Americana: Things that are nostalgic to Americans, such as 1950's American Diners, Nickel Candy Store, Full-service Gas Stations, etc.
Animals: Dogs, Cats, Horses, Snakes, Monkeys, etc.
Anniversaries and Celebrations: Birthdays, Wedding Anniversaries, Births, Graduations, etc.
Armed Services: Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, etc.
Armed Services/Wars: U.S. Civil War, World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Desert Storm, etc.
Classic Cars: Mustangs, GTO's, Corvettes, Thunderbirds, 57 Chevys, etc.
Historical: Dixie, Wild West, Samurai, Troy, Vikings, etc.
Holiday: Christmas, Thanksgiving, Father's Day, Mother's Day, Mardi Gras, St. Patrick's Day, etc.
Patriotic: American Patriot, Proud to be an American, 9/11 Anniversary, Support Our Troops, Purple Heart, Statue of Liberty, etc.
Presidents: Various U.S. Presidents
Professions: EMS, Teacher, Nurse, Circus, Secret Agent, etc.
Space: Shuttle Challenger, Shuttle Columbia, Apollo 11, Mars, Solar System, UFOs, etc.
Sports and Recreational: Football, Baseball, Soccer, Hockey, Golf, Martial Arts, Paintball, Skateboarding, Fishing, Wrestling, etc.
States: U.S. State bills based on the U.S. gememorative Quarters.
Transportation: American Biker, Exotic Cars, Iron Horse Train, etc.,
UPS: Bills gememorating the U.S. Postal Service
Zodiac: All 12 Zodiac bills.

What are the Uses for Novelty Money?
Now that we have given you an idea what novelty money is, how it is made, and the various themes that it covers, just how can you use it?


Collectibles: Collecting novelty money is not only fun, but interesting! Each beautiful, colorful bill tells a story. Some people collect all bills, while others collect only bills in acertain theme, such as Classic Cars, or Sports and Recreational bills. You can choose for yourself which bills you want to collect.