A few people I was talking to on Basel nights out were wondering about one of these, they're not something you generally come by but they do exist. I thought the woman was taking the P when she offered it as a option.

I got one at a airport when I exchanged Sterling and it was either this or 10 chuffs notes

I reckon it will be a very long time before I see one of these again, but to answer the question. Here's a couple of images..





Shortly after it disappeared to pay the rent, I couldn't handle walking round with that much in one note..

And for your next trick?

On a serious note (haha)

Erm what other currencies apart from US dollars carry such high denominations?

Euros go to 500 is it?

I dunno it just feels very very un-nerving having such a high denomination in a wallet

What is REALLY unnerving is seeing housewives pay for their Saturday shopping in the village shop with the things and the person at the till not flinching when handing out the change.

Well, I didn't think it was odd until I (12 at the time), tried to pay for something with a hundred pound note in the UK and them actually getting the shop manager come and check whether it was real. The thing I was buying was 88 pounds, so not really suspicious, or so I thought...

Well this is just what I don't get even a 200chf I feel a bit awkward using, but people just don't blink a eyelid.

What's the last time you paid for anything with a £50 in the UK?

100 pound is obvious its a Scots note isn't it? Or Channel Islands?

In Costa Rica 1000 colones won't even buy you a proper beer.

That goes for all Swiss "large" notes, I find... I can pay for a coffee (1.50) at work with a 100 franc note and I get my change no bother. Same in the Kiosks and most small purchases I've made. If I handed over €50 for a €1.50 purchase at home (which I have done) I'd be definitely asked to tender something smaller.
Another brownie point for Switzerland

On the other end of the Swiss monetary spectrum, I am totally digging the five franc coin: when you are down to you coin jar and you discover those puppies, suddenly things are not as destitute as you may have thought.

I have been coming to Switzerland since 1947, long before credit cards were popular (not sure they even existed at the time). Even now, in the small villages where I spend most of my vacation, cash is the main payment medium. So I carry with me about a month's worth of spending money. I feel perfectly safe doing so in Switzerland. I am not sure there are many other places on this planet where I would do so

I once got a good deal on a used car by paying cash. However I needed quite a few of those notes. On the way from the bank to the dealer, I wished I'd had 2 guys with violin cases escorting me.

Ah yes, that would have been completely subtle :P

CHF 1000 is small change compared to US man seeks change for $1m note:

Did you happen to use the American Fletcher Bank back then?

Yet in most (all?) petrol stations, you'll see a notice that 1000 CHF notes are not accepted.

Did you realise that all Swiss notes are the same width, but in rising denominations each is longer than the lower one by roughly a centimetre?

Why not put it under an ashtray at the next EF drinks and see if it stays there?

(people who are still alive after the last EF drinks may know what I'm referring to here).

No but seriously, I think having a large denomination note is very practical. Just think, if you needed to carry 50 or 100K somewhere - no need to bring a briefcase.

A couple of years ago I was buying quite a bit of very nice high end gear (from a manufacturer who shall remain nameless) at a bankruptcy auction. I had to pay a 20K deposit, so I quickly nipped to the bank and asked for it, presenting just my ATM card.

The teller just reached into the drawer and counted out 20 x 1000 notes which just went straight into my pocket (how practical). I asked (a little surprised) "But don't you want to see my passport?" Nah....

Can you imagine the circus you might have to go through in another country to get that much cash?

I'm going to bump this thread back to daily life. It's currently filed under Help and Tips / General, but there doesn't seem to be a tip in it (unless you count my suggestion above about what to do with your next 1000...)

Once again, on the other end of the spectrum...

http://ant.sillydog.org/blog/2005/000602.php

2 Aussie guys robbed a bank in Vail, took pictures with the cash, and paid for Rolex's with $5 bills.

I don't know how wise it was to post this, considering the general humiliation us Aussies are feeling currently

I forgot about that I left 500chf's under a ashtray for 2 hrs!! Insanity, but proved a point. Another reason why I love Switzerland

I doubt if it was a 1000 chf note it would have stayed there though..

Erm <cough> apologies about wrong thread was headed for "other" originally

Now I don't consider my uncle a particulary wealthy man but he once left a piece of paper in my sisters hands when he was shaking farewell and went back to the states.

When she opened her hands it was actually one of these (the older version though)

You proved a point? You left it around a bunch of pissed expats, so what point were you trying to prove? I suspect nobody saw it, and that's why it stayed there, or those that did see knew it was yours. My guess is that if someone did notice it (Swiss, expat or otherwise), it would have been gone.

If I had seen it myself I would have pocketed it, not because I'm a thief, but because I would assume it was left behind and I'd know that if I left it someone else would pocket it. So sorry - I can't really see what you were trying to prove here.

If you want to prove something, drop your wallet on Bahnhofstrasse and see if you get it back with the cash in it. I once left my wallet in a New York taxi and got it back (18 months later, via the embassy) with all the cash still in it!

Please let me know if you are going to repeat the experiment, I'll be there

I dunno probably a pi**ed idea really. (The moment all the best ideas are hatched, or perhaps not)

I think the point was regardless of the people around me at the time, in the UK that would have been gone in under 20 seconds, I see whar you're getting at though.

I don't know perhaps I was trying to prove Switzerland does something to people perhaps makes them more honest as society in general than the rest of Europe.

Perhaps see it as a drunken social experiment. I never told anyone that money was on the table around me apart from those observing the experiment. I also told them to move away and leave it. I could see it which was all that counted

The NY story is unbelievable!!

I definately will not repeating it though......