History Main / WorthlessCurrency

** The Triganic Pu is technically useful, having an exchange rate of eight Ningis to one Pu. However the Ningi is a triangular rubber coin 6800 miles long on each side meaning that no one has ever managed to collect enough of them to own one Pu (Ningi's are useless as currency because the banks refuse to deal in fiddly small change).

* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'', the yen that you used as currency in the first half of the game becomes useless AfterTheEnd, forcing you to acquire Macca as the new currency.

* Played with in ''Film/{{Jumanji}}'' when Van Pelt buys a new gun. The shop owner at first refuses his gold coins because the denomination had stopped being circulated in 1903. He accepts when Van Pelt just dumps more coins.

* Zigzagged in a particular way in the case of Confederate dollars. Confederate currency in circulation became worthless entirely by 1865 as they had been backed by nothing but the promise of repayment when the Confederacy won, which obviously never happened. However, the bills themselves have become a sought-after item for collectors, even the Union-made CounterfeitCash that was intended to sabotage the Confederacy's economy (it didn't actually do that much sabotaging because their economy was already suffering from very high inflation). It's gotten to the point that some enterprising forgers have created ''modern-day'' counterfeits in the hopes of profiting from unsuspecting collectors.

* "There'll be Some Changes Made", a story in ''Comicbook/JourneyIntoMystery'' #33 (1956) has a man who resents his Revolutionary War era ancestor for spending the family fortune, so creates a time machine that can kill the man before he has a chance to do so. As a result, a strongbox containing the money instantly appears on the table ... and it turns out to be Continental currency, which had collapsed in value by 1778.

* In ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E66Two Two]]", the man finds money in a cash register in the ruined city, but discards it since it is worthless in the aftermath of the war that destroyed his civilization.

* Subverted in a particular way in the case of Confederate dollars. Confederate currency in circulation became worthless entirely by 1865 as they had been backed by nothing but the promise of repayment when the Confederacy won, which obviously never happened. However, the bills themselves have become a sought-after item for collectors, even the Union-made CounterfeitCash that was intended to sabotage the Confederacy's economy (it didn't actually do that much sabotaging because their economy was already suffering from very high inflation).

* ''Film/CliffHanger'' is about a bunch of mountain rescue workers who get forced by a bunch of skjackers to help retrieve the money they had lost during their heist. At one point, the hero Gabe uses some money to fuel a fire he does not freeze to death.

* In ''Film/WithoutAPaddle'', [[spoiler:it is discovered that the infamous and real life skyjacker DB Cooper fell into a crevice and broke his legs. He had to use the money he stole to keep himself war but he starved to death]].

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', the family goes to Krustyland and as they're entering, Homer is convinced to buy Krusty Dollars because "they're just like real dollars, except more fun." After converting all his cash, he goes into the park, where nearly every store and vendor is displaying a sign: "We do not accept Krusty Dollars!"

''(The bubble coins pop)''

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[[quoteright:350:[[UsefulNotes/{{Zimbabwe}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_zimbabwemoney_0.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The inflation rates make using money [[{{Pun}} cents-less]].]]

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[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse:
** {{Subverted}} in one story: at the end of a grueling job for Scrooge Donald is paid a princely sum in Confederate dollars that he gives to the Nephews so at least they can play with them, only for them to mention they have Confederate money in hearing range of a Confederate nostalgic who is willing to pay a large sum to have them.
** In another, Scrooge realizes the Beagle Boys are trying to break into the Bin, but after doing some calculations, seems uncharacteristically okay with letting them carry out the heist. They extract a large quantity of coins... which they can't spend anywhere, because it's a completely worthless currency. (They can't even throw them away because it would be littering.) Scrooge knew exactly where they were since he remembers every single coin he keeps in the bin, and knew they wouldn't take anything of actual monetary value. He actually ends up taking the coins back for a pittance (the Boys would have had to ''pay'' to have the junk disposed of otherwise) and used them in his new outdoors money pool.

* An ExploitedTrope in ''Film/TheResistanceBanker''. To maintain accounts on the people who have donated money to LaResistance, yet not leave evidence that can enable to German occupiers to identify them, Walraven issues them worthless stock from Czarist Russia which no-one will pay attention to, yet can be handed in for reimbursement after the war.
* In ''Film/TheFuries'' (1950), the egotistical rancher "T. C." Jeffords pays for his debts using "T.C." notes instead of dollars. His daughter Vance [[HatesTheirParent undermines his wealth]] by buying up the notes, and once they're worthless hands over a crate of them as a 'loan'.

* In ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' it's mentioned that the galaxy has three major currencies, all of which are useless.
** The Altairian dollar has recently collapsed.
** The Flanian Pobble Bead is only exchangeable for other Flanian Pobble Beads.
** The Triganic Pu is technically useful, having an exchange rate of eight Ningis to one Pu. However the Ningi is a triangular rubber coin 6800 miles long on each side meaning that no one has ever managed to collect enough of them to own one Pu (Ningi's are useless as currency because the banks refuse to deal in small change).

[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
* In ''Literature/TheBible'': one of the quirks at the Temple in Jerusalem was that offering had to be made in Temple currency. Many travelers from distant lands would arrive with foreign currency, which was worthless if they wanted to make an offering. Money-changers were available to convert the foreign money, which was a necessary action. The problem was they would often charge exorbitant rates for the service, which is the basis for Jesus' ire with them.
[[/folder]]

* ''Series/TheBeverlyHillbillies'': In the episode "His Royal Highness", the deposed King Alexander of Sabalia had suitcases full of Glotny's - identified by Miss Hathaway's guide to world currencies as completely worthless.

* One episode of ''Series/PawnStars'' had a man come in and present his finding of thousands of dollars in Confederate money, and asked to sell it for a few hundred. It's only at this point that Rick mentions that one stipulation of the official surrender of the Confederacy was that their money became worthless. By federal law, Rick was not allowed to offer any monetary value on the worthless notes.

* Downplayed in ''TabletopGame/SevenWonders'' and its two-player spinoff ''7 Wonders Duel''. Having a comfortable stack of cash is useful during the game to pay for coin costs and resources you don't have enough of. However, they are much better spent than kept, because at the end of the game they are worth very little in terms of victory points (unless you have an effect that grants extra VP for them).

* PlayedForLaughs in ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'' a couple of times:
** When you infiltrate the Mafia headquarters there's plenty of slot machines to try, but none of them work since they only take local currency and all you have are pons, which are worthless here except to the [[HumanoidAbomination Badge Vendor]].
** In the Nyakuza Metro DLC, The Empress throws wads of cash at you after each act rather than letting you keep the Time Piece you found. However, everyone in the Metro ''only'' accepts pons so it's only about as valuable as the paper it's printed on. At the end of the level, Hat Kid has an entire worthless pile of money on her ship collecting dust which she has no idea whatsoever what to do with.
* In ''VideoGame/FarCry4'', Pagan Min mentions changing Kyrat's official currency so that everyone's savings became worthless.