Starting with a dollar is perfectly fine. The above mentioned author only used quarters because it’s easier to let go of the lust for result with “just a quarter” than it is for a $5 bill (and the point of the exercise is not to make money, but to illustrate that what the Thinker thinks, the Prover proves).
@emperor, who has left the forum, mentioned teaching a student of his to do it with larger and larger denominations.