Even paper currency is, at bottom, worth the paper it's printed on.
When Zimbabwe printed a $100,000,000,000,000 (one hundred trillion dollar bill) due to hyperinflation, the people used it for fire, because it wasn't useful for anything else.
So… no, paper money has been worthless many times.
And, now, those notes sell for over $100 each in uncirculated condition, simply because it's denominated in "dollars" and has the largest numerical denomination history. Had you bought one in 2001, when they were worth $5 apiece, that would have yielded you a CAGR of around 40%. Sometimes, I kind of want to kick myself for missing out on that train. :)
