By CoinWeek …..
$2 bills continue to “make the news” as collectors seek them out and pay big premiums on sites like eBay. While most people may not often see them in circulation, $2 Federal Reserve Notes continue to be printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) and can be acquired at face value at practically any bank. Not every one of these humdrum twos is worth a second look from a paper money collector, but those that are can be worth 10x their face value, and some even more.
In our recent survey of eBay results, we discovered three $2 bill listings that sold for sizable premiums this month. In this article, we discuss what makes them interesting (headers below link to the relevant eBay listings while they are still live).
$2 Two Dollar Bill- First Day Issue Series 1976 Stamped April 13
Treasury Secretary William E. Simon announced the reissuance of the $2 bill on November 3, 1975. Since July of that year, the public had enthusiastically received the dual-dated Bicentennial coinage, and the Treasury Department wanted to honor the signing of the Declaration of Independence on currency. Choosing the $2 denomination was the obvious decision as Thomas Jefferson had been the honoree on the front of the note for several of the previous issues.
The note was met with great enthusiasm upon its April 13, 1976, release, and to make the event, collectors sought to have their examples stamped. This particular example features a “Spirit of 76” 13¢ stamp as canceled at the Trenton, New Jersey, Station E post office. Examples typically sell for $10 to $12 each. The buyer of this note paid $13.
Crisp Uncirculated 2017 A Fancy Serial Number RADAR/TRINARY $2 Dollar Note
A RADAR Trinary is a note that can be read back and forth with three radar digits at each end. This note is from Series 2017-A and bears the engraved signatures of U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Fancy Serial Number bills are a currency-collecting specialty area that can be enjoyed by collectors on any budget. As every note issued into circulation has a unique serial number, there exist numerous opportunities to spot a serial number that may be meaningful to someone. This 79700797 $2 bill sold for $28.50.
USA $2 1953 A37676112A # UNITED STATES Note RED Seal Jefferson Dollars Money
You don’t see Red Seal Notes in circulation much anymore, and haven’t for more than 50 years. Still, these notes are not scarce, numismatically speaking, and can be purchased in crisp, uncirculated condition for a dollar or two more than the buyer paid for this damaged circulated example.
Collectors generally accept circulated currency when the piece is rare or when finer examples are financially out of reach. For a collector to settle for a note that is heavily creased, dirty, and torn, there would have to be no better alternative. That is not the case with this note. Therefore we believe that the collector made an unwise purchase.
* * *
The torn-corner damage on the red-seal note may well have been intentional. For complex cultural reasons (ones that probably warrant a separate article in themselves) people in some parts of the country held the superstition that $2 bills were “bad luck” or actually “evil”. It was common practice among believers to tear off a corner to let the supposed bad luck or evil “drain out”. Reportedly others actually ran $2 bills through their wash to ensure purity.
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find anything to indicate that these intentionally-damaged notes bring any market premium, à la that brought by (in)famous fakes like racketeer nickels.
hoax /con broken pencils