Museum's million-dollar cash display actually holds $1.5 million, visitor finds

Ellsworth Toohey 1:27 pm Tue Jul 1, 2025

Calvin's Tools Dot Counter

A visitor to Chicago's Federal Reserve Money Museum uncovered an error hiding in its famous "million-dollar cube."

Calvin Liang created a tool to analyze photos of the cube. His count revealed 102 x 8 x 19 stacks of hundred-bill bundles, totaling $1,550,400 — more than half a million dollars over the advertised amount.

Liang went further, calculating how to build a proper million-dollar cube. The awkward dimensions of U.S. currency (6.14 inches wide by 2.61 inches tall) make a perfect cube impossible, but he designed one that comes close: 90 bundles per stack arranged 7×16, totaling $1,008,000.

"The sign says you don't have to wonder," Liang concludes. "But I did anyway. And now… you don't have to either."

Previously:
• Steven Mnuchin and Louise Linton may have used a government plane to watch the eclipse

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