Overview
- The customer at Michael's Bar & Grill in Manchester ordered about $40 of food and handed over what staff initially thought was a $100 bill.
- He left before change was made, and employees later determined the note was a $1,000 novelty bill labeled as ancestor money, which is not legal tender.
- After the restaurant posted surveillance images on Facebook, the man returned, apologized, paid his tab, and tipped the server, staff said.
- Workers report a recent rise in dine-and-dash incidents and say the business added cameras, license-plate readers, and facial-recognition tools to deter theft.
- U.S. $1,000 bills exist largely as collectors' items, with printing halted in 1945 and the denomination discontinued in 1969, according to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.