François R. Velde writes:

The worse a nation's economy, the more inflated its currency.

That's one of the takeaways from Signs of Inflation, a new exhibition at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The show, presented by the American Numismatic Society, looks at the history of inflation through the 7th century B.C. to present day. (Yes, even Ancient Rome experienced inflation-it needed to finance those wars.) Signs of Inflation includes almost 200 monetary objects, ranging from engraved gold coins and cowrie shells to twisted iron rods and handwritten IOUs. But it also demonstrates the myriad, complex ways a bank note-or coin, shell, or what have you-reveals a society's political and economic health. And it does so through treating money as partly an objet d'art

The exhibition's largest bill, in terms of monetary units, is from 1946 Hungary: a bank note, printed in July but never circulated, worth 1 sextillion pengö. The bill's design, which features a beautiful, serene-looking young woman, belies the fact that the country's monetary system was on the brink of collapse. Its worth at the time: 50 cents. Its worth after Hungary's new currency, the forint, was introduced in August of that year: 1/10,000,000 of a cent.

Visitors must make an appointment in advance to view the show.

To read the complete article, see:The Value of Worthless Money(www.thedailybeast.com//content/newsweek/2012/04/29/exhibit-considers-the-politics-and-art-of-inflation.html)

To read the complete Press Release, see:Signs of Inflation(numismatics.org/wikiuploads/NewsEvents/SignsofInflationPressRel.pdf)

For more information, see:Signs of Inflation(numismatics.org/Exhibits/SignsofInflation)