While getting a $100 bill recently, the banker was looking for a crisp, new bill. While I didn’t want a crumpled bill, I commented to the worried banker that Ben Franklin looks good even when a little wrinkled.

That made me wonder . . .

Does America love Ben Franklin because we associate him with Poor Richard’s Almanac and the wisdom of frugality or do we love him because subconsciously associate him with the highest, regularly used US currency denomination?

Would the parsimonious Capricorn Franklin have wanted to be on the penny instead of the $100 bill?

“A penny saved is two pence clear. A pin a day is a groat a year. Save and have.”

US currency – by sign of individual on portrait

Below are the current US tender currency and person (with zodiac sign). There may be other coins and currency legal tender, but this should cover the bulk. There is only so much time in a day and time is money, you know.

Sources:

Bureau of engraving and printing – small denominations

Bureau of engraving and printing – large denominations

US Mint dollar coins

1 cent – Aquarius (Abraham Lincoln)

5 cents – Aries (Thomas Jefferson)

10 cents – Aquarius (Franklin Roosevelt)

25 cents – Pisces (George Washington)

50 cents – Gemini (John Kennedy)

$1 – Pisces (George Washington)

$2 – Aries (Thomas Jefferson)

$5 – Aquarius (Abraham Lincoln)

$10 – Capricorn (Alexander Hamilton)

$20 – Pisces (Andrew Jackson)

$50 – Taurus (Ulysses Grant)

$100 – Capricorn (Benjamin Franklin)

$500 – Aquarius (William McKinley) & Libra (John Marshall)

$1,000 – Capricorn (Alexander Hamilton) & Pisces (Grover Cleveland)

$5,000 – Pisces (James Madison)

$10,000 – Capricorn (Salmon P. Chase)

$100,000 – Capricorn (Woodrow Wilson)

Presidential $1 coins

The presidential $1 coins are minted in presidential order and in 2013 will end with Woodrow Wilson. I’ve included the 2013 coins in the math.

The math

The total value of each of the currencies listed is $118,218.91. The Sacagawea $1 coin, can’t be assigned a zodiac sign as date of birth is unknown.

The winner for highest value is: Capricorn

Capricorn is worth $111,113 or 94% of the total value. Of the eight Capricorns constituting this $111,113, half are not presidents (Alexander Hamilton twice, Ben Franklin and Salmon P. Chase). Capricorns, it appears, have a special formula for getting their faces on money.

Capricorns really do own the world, it seems. Maybe a Capricorn or Capricorn-entity even owns the money itself?

The other 5.95% of the value is from Pisces ($6,026.26), Aquarius ($509.11) and Libra ($502.00).

The remaining 0.05% of the value comes from the remaining eight signs.

Other categories

The sign with the most representations is: Pisces

Pisces figures are on 10 of the 48 representations. The first president of the United States, George Washington, was a Pisces so this makes sense. The earliest presidents are, unfortunately, on the smallest denominations as the US wasn’t in $16.8 trillion in debt when the country was founded.

Poor Pisces – so many coins, so little value.

The signs of Scorpio, Aquarius and Pisces all have sent their energetic waves to five presidents (Pisces Grover Cleveland had two separate terms so needs to be counted twice upping Pisces to the top tier).

Aquarius has eight units of currency in its name, as does Capricorn.

Where is Scorpio?

Intense Scorpio has only four coins to its name, all $1 coins, and is worth $4.

Scorpio is doing better than Poor Gemini with only $0.50 of value. The US has had only two Gemini presidents with six years in office between them (John F. Kennedy and George Bush Sr.).

I’m truly worried about the gambling and risk-taking Sagittarius having only $3. With so little in pocket, they may be driven to borrowing.

Gender

Of the currency tracked, only two contain women (Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea) for a total of $2. Anthony was an Aquarius and contributed to its fine standing of $509.11. Too bad Anthony wasn’t male; she might have been president.

What about Leo?

Leo, as you recall, doesn’t like to be ignored. Of the four Leo presidents, two have been in recent history – Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Leo, as the chart tells you, is worth a mere $1.

During the Fiscal Cliff debates earlier this year (remember those?), there was talk of minting a $1 trillion coin so that the US wouldn’t default on its debt.

If we do decide to mint that coin during Obama’s presidency, it can carry his picture. According to the schedule, Obama’s $1 coin won’t be minted until about 2017.

Leo, then, will be worth $1 trillion and remain king of the jungle, king of the zodiac and king of the money.