FILTHY FIAT FRAGILE IMPERMANENCE

Specimen FF-UNK020 · Series 2009 · serial lost to decay

I buried $200 in case my house burned down.
Nature created a generative art project.

Time + water + dirt is the generative algorithm.
The damage on each bill is its metadata of traits.
The serial number is the code of authenticity.
#1
Mythic · rank 1 of 64

The damage is the metadata. Every note is scored on ruin and scarcity, then ranked. This one is the most ruined in the collection.

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Front of specimen FF-UNK020, the most ruined $1 bill in the Filthy Fiat collection: Series 2009, its serial digested by two years underground, black mold bloom, dark water staining and heavy material loss at the edges
Reverse of specimen FF-UNK020: the Great Seal of the United States, the unfinished pyramid and the eagle, darkened by mold and groundwater staining
rarity score FILTH INDEX 94 Every note is scored on ruin + scarcity. This one ranks #1. RANK #1 · MYTHIC
authenticity SERIAL LOST — — — The serial is the code of authenticity. Here it was digested entirely.
region seal DALLAS · K District 11 Serial gone, but the circular seal survives — the district is read from the seal, not the number.
trait STAINING 68% Overall darkening — the whole note tea-stained by soil and water underground.
anatomy THE GREAT SEAL 1782 The unfinished pyramid and the all-seeing eye — “Annuit Cœptis.” Mold crept clean across it.
trait MATERIAL LOSS 14% The edges eaten away. Nature redrew the borders of the note.
trait BLACK MOLD 15% A living bloom that spread across the reverse until the design dissolved.
FF-UNK020 · $1 FRN · Series 2009 · 75% cotton / 25% linen

The short version

Two years underground.
Then the bank called it a biohazard.

01 · THE BURIAL

A prepper box in my parents' backyard

Inside: 200 one-dollar bills, silver bars, a gold coin, .38 rounds, family photos, paper 3D glasses. Sealed. Buried. Forgotten on purpose.

02 · THE REFUSAL

Unspendable. Unexchangeable.

Two years of water, dirt, mold and iron turned the cash into a brick of decayed paper. My bank refused it as a biohazard. The Treasury exchange bag never came.

03 · THE SURGERY

An x-acto blade and a discovery

Separating the brick bill by bill, I found nature had generated an art collection. Every note uniquely rewritten by rust, mold, water and loss.

Read the full story

Watch · behind the scenes

Between Two Bills.

The surgery, up close. Separating the brick one decayed bill at a time.

Behind-the-scenes film of Coldie separating the brick of buried, moldy dollar bills with an x-acto blade
Play the film

Three ways to collect

One project. Three kinds of collector.

The buried bills are the source. They live as graded currency, as physical art, and as tokenized works on-chain. Choose your door.

FOR THE CURRENCY COLLECTOR

The Bills

All 64 notes, PMG-graded and forensically measured. Real serials, districts and certification numbers. Filter by district, trait and series.

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Physical Art

The Warren Buffett portrait that sold at Christie's, the Filthy Fiat Flag, and signed prints made from the bills.

Enter the physical wing → FOR THE DIGITAL COLLECTOR

Digital Art

Bitcoin Ordinals and Ethereum works that reference the bills on-chain, from the 2023 generative series to today.

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Try it with the dollar in your pocket

Every dollar tells you where it was born.

Find the round Federal Reserve seal left of Washington's portrait. Type its letter, or your whole serial number.

Twelve Federal Reserve districts, A through L.
Your bill carries one of them. This tool tells you which, right here in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Full guide: what every mark on your dollar means →

Below the banking hall

Every claim on this floor is provable downstairs.

The marble is upstairs. The proof is in the basement: a forensic terminal holding the record for every note, straight off the mainframe these bills came from.

> Enter the registry 64 specimens on file · every serial verifiable