Could US currency with Trump’s signature become a collector’s item?

(NEXSTAR) – The Treasury Department announced last week that Donald Trump’s signature will soon appear on U.S. paper currency, framing it as an honor bestowed upon the president as part of the country’s semiquincentennial celebrations.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are on a path toward unprecedented economic growth, lasting dollar dominance, and fiscal strength and stability,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent claimed in a statement included with a Treasury Department press release. “There is no more powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump than U.S dollar bills bearing his name, and it is only appropriate that this historic currency be issued at the Semiquincentennial.”

A representative for the Treasury Department did not respond to a request for more information on when the bills might enter circulation, or how long the Treasury intends to print the notes. Reuters reported that the new bills would begin printing in the summer (starting with a $100 note), and could take weeks to enter circulation.

What’s known for certain is that new bills will mark the first to ever feature a sitting president’s signature, seeing as traditional currency bears the signatures of the Treasurer and Treasury Secretary, positions currently held by Bessent and Brandon Beach, respectively. (Trump’s signature would replace the Treasurer’s, according to the Associated Press.)

As such, the bills themselves could potentially be a collector’s item in the distant future — but it all depends on how many the Treasury Department intends to put into circulation.

“Some collectors will think this is a great opportunity to set aside something that might gain value,” Dustin Johnston, the senior vice president of numismatics at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, told Nexstar. “However, the volume of notes the Bureau of Engraving and Printing produces daily will make these issues very common. The Bureau can print more than 30 million notes per day,” he said.

“In a short time, everyone who wants an example will be able to find them in circulation, so it is unlikely that there will be any collector premiums paid after there is a sufficient supply in the hands of the public,” according to Johnston.

Dave Wnuck, of Dave Wnuck Numismatics in Connecticut, theorized that bills with Trump’s signature would number in the “hundreds of millions” before the run is through, likely making them too common to appreciate in value among collectors.

“I don’t think there would be a chance for it to be worth more than face value — at least for many, many years to come, if at all,” Wnuck told Nexstar.

The Treasury Department’s plans, meanwhile, have already drawn criticism from those who view it as just another example of the Trump administration working to put his name and likeness on American cultural institutions, and following his renaming of the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center performing arts venue and a new class of battleships. The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (whose members were appointed by Trump) had also approved the final design for a 24-karat gold commemorative coin bearing Trump’s image earlier this month, to help celebrate America’s 250th birthday on July 4.

Democratic lawmakers also pointed out that the plans are coming amid increased financial pressures on the American public. Ohio Rep. Shontel Brown called the move “gross and un-American” in a post shared to X.

“But at least it will remind us who to thank when we pay more for gas, goods, and groceries,” she wrote.

The Treasury Department does not share Brown’s sentiments.

“The President’s mark on history as the architect of America’s Golden Age economic revival is undeniable,” reads a statement issued last week by Treasurer Brandon Beach. “Printing his signature on the American currency is not only appropriate, but also well deserved.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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