The worth of the $2 dollar bill, and what makes it a good trade or buy?

coincol87

So being as to how Im new to this, could anyone please tell me what makes the 2 dollar bill a good trade or buy. My family keeps saying that there a great collectable to have, but cant explain the basis behind it. Any information will be greatly appreciated. Enclosed are pictures of the book that i have, just needing to know if its something i need to put away or something i can hang up and use a good converstation stater.

steveben

i am sure there are some that are valuable, but i think they are more common than most people think. it's kinda like a novelty currency.

edgar

I usually get 150-200 $2.00 notes from my bank branches (they are very common just don't circulate much). I give them as tips and such, People really think they are special. Unless you get a fancy serial number, certain star notes, silver certificate, or earlier dates, they are just legal tender, to be spent. But all are worth checking over. Get them from your bank teller.

But the U.S. & World Currency Forum off the home tab up top coukd tell you more.

moursund

Now, if you had a $3 bill... That would be something! 😉

vulcanize

@moursund said:
Now, if you had a $3 bill... That would be something! 😉

A little over a decade ago, my friend's teenaged daughter got given one of those novelty 3$ bills which she thought was genuine and accepted it at their store in exchange for produce.

vulcanize

@coincol87 said:
So being as to how Im new to this, could anyone please tell me what makes the 2 dollar bill a good trade or buy.

https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/two-dollar-bill-worth-4776868

Hopefully the above link is a start to understand them a bit better.
Take care and have fun collecting.

Jzyskowski1

Picked this up a few years back. While on the islands these were $10 on main streer and walked 2 blocks over and got one for face by asking at a lovely little shop just off the beach couple streets up😉

TurtleCat

I seem to recall that $2 bills circulated quite often at one point and then just kind of disappeared. It would be neat to see them circulated again even though having coinage for $10 and below makes more sense overall.

gumby1234

291fifth

During the era of private bank note issues, which ended during the Civil War, $3 notes were about as common as $10 notes. They were issued by hundreds of banks in the US.

jonathanb

To the original poster: The $2 that you posted were made in the billions. They are currently worth $2 each, and they will always be worth $2 each.

If you want to make a collection of things that give you enjoyment, they might indeed be great collectibles.

If you want to make a collection of things that are likely to increase in value, these are not the bills that you are looking for.

charlesf20

I could only gather 5 of them from three different banks this past week.

mavs2583

If you got to a bank and ask for $2's, they're more than happy to give them to you, they just sit there. They're novelty items, although I wish they were regularly used (would rather have a $2 than 2 $1s taking up space in my wallet, plus the back is very nice). Although it's surprising how many people don't know they are real money, had a diner owner get mad at me when I paid with one, thinking it was fake.

Overdate

The red seals, if undamaged, are worth a few bucks more than face. There is also a 1963 red seal series, not shown, with "will pay to the bearer on demand" removed from the front and "In God We Trust" added to the back.

ricko

I get them occasionally in change... I think the cashiers want to get rid of them. In the Navy, pay days at sea frequently gave them out. Cheers, RickO

JBK

The OPs collection was probably purchased at a huge premium.

My advice is to keep that book/album in perfect condition as the only value most of the notes have.is in the nice presentation. (The uncut strip has a little premium, for example).

Those are collectables, not an investment. Your red seal look to be curcyhated and the newer issues, if pristine, have just a little premium.

My bank usually gets stacks of new 2s around the holidays (but not this year). I an sitting on 2 bundles (100 notes each) of $2 bills that will be dispersed into circulation at some point.

As I understand it, $2 bills got a reputation for being bad luck (maybe due to $2 being a common gambling wager at the track), and that led to fewer people wanting them, which led to less being used which led to the myth that they were rare and therefore valuable.

PipestonePete

The older large size $2 notes are very collectable.

There are also many varieties of $2 "Obsolete Banknotes" that are very affordable and interesting to collect.

Klif50

@JBK said:
The OPs collection was probably purchased at a huge premium.

My advice is to keep that book/album in perfect condition as the only value most of the notes have.is in the nice presentation. (The uncut strip has a little premium, for example).

Those are collectables, not an investment. Your red seal look to be curcyhated and the newer issues, if pristine, have just a little premium.

My bank usually gets stacks of new 2s around the holidays (but not this year). I an sitting on 2 bundles (100 notes each) of $2 bills that will be dispersed into circulation at some point.

As I understand it, $2 bills got a reputation for being bad luck (maybe due to $2 being a common gambling wager at the track), and that led to fewer people wanting them, which led to less being used which led to the myth that they were rare and therefore valuable.

I remember in the 50's that we would come across $2 bills. They quite often had one corner torn off in order to break the "bad luck".

ambro51

Recently picked up a $2 from my home town c. 1860. Egg Harbor $1 and $5 notes are fairly common, in “near new” condition....a fully circulated $2 quite rare.

JBK

@Klif50 said:

@JBK said:
The OPs collection was probably purchased at a huge premium.

My advice is to keep that book/album in perfect condition as the only value most of the notes have.is in the nice presentation. (The uncut strip has a little premium, for example).

Those are collectables, not an investment. Your red seal look to be curcyhated and the newer issues, if pristine, have just a little premium.

My bank usually gets stacks of new 2s around the holidays (but not this year). I an sitting on 2 bundles (100 notes each) of $2 bills that will be dispersed into circulation at some point.

As I understand it, $2 bills got a reputation for being bad luck (maybe due to $2 being a common gambling wager at the track), and that led to fewer people wanting them, which led to less being used which led to the myth that they were rare and therefore valuable.

I remember in the 50's that we would come across $2 bills. They quite often had one corner torn off in order to break the "bad luck".

That's very interesting. I got a red seal several years ago at the bank and it had a missing corner.

moursund

I LOVE the art on some of the old silver certs... this is great! I suppose I would grow tired of this if it were on our current bills...?

moursund

Well, ok, this one isn't so great... but the others are nice

BuffaloIronTail

@jonathanb said:
To the original poster: The $2 that you posted were made in the billions. They are currently worth $2 each, and they will always be worth $2 each.

If you want to make a collection of things that give you enjoyment, they might indeed be great collectibles.

If you want to make a collection of things that are likely to increase in value, these are not the bills that you are looking for.

Move along........................

Pete

pursuitofliberty

First things first, old or new, much like coins, condition will be paramount. Behind that rarity will become very important.

With the exception of fancy serial numbers, gold and silver certificates (sometimes) and other oddities ... and strictly in a general sense as there are always exceptions ... I would not consider many small size notes (current size) to be worth much more than face value except in the finest of grades, and even then I think you need to work from the Series 1934 notes and earlier.

Large size notes, Fractionals, Colonials and National Bank Notes can be worthwhile, again taking condition and rarity in to play.

Some notes are popular but not really scarce based on the pool of collectors. Some are very scarce but not very popular. A few are both.

The pool of collectors is pretty small compared to the overall coin market in my opinion.

Finally as to your photo's; the Red Seals, in the very finest of conditions can be worthwhile. None of yours are of that condition. The later notes are readily available almost anywhere, anytime and in the most pristine of conditions.

Overdate

@JBK said:

@Klif50 said:
I remember in the 50's that we would come across $2 bills. They quite often had one corner torn off in order to break the "bad luck".

That's very interesting. I got a red seal several years ago at the bank and it had a missing corner.

When I was in elementary school in the 50's, I would occasionally pay for my school lunch with a $2 bill. If a corner wasn't torn off already, the cashier would tear one off before giving me my change.

Oldhoopster

@Overdate said:

@JBK said:

@Klif50 said:
I remember in the 50's that we would come across $2 bills. They quite often had one corner torn off in order to break the "bad luck".

That's very interesting. I got a red seal several years ago at the bank and it had a missing corner.

When I was in elementary school in the 50's, I would occasionally pay for my school lunch with a $2 bill. If a corner wasn't torn off already, the cashier would tear one off before giving me my change.

There are a number of reasons why people consider $2 bills to be unlucky. I heard a similar story years ago about tearing of the corner to break the bad luck. Also, if you received a $2 bill with all 4 corners missing, you had to burn the bill or be stuck with all the bad luck of the previous recipients. Now that really would be bad luck

JBK

The funny thing is, in Cuba the US $2 is considered "suarte" or good luck.

Jzyskowski1

The Chinese New Year. The US Mint does em on $2 bills. All those 8’s in the serial numbers considered lucky. I got a couple 88888874 and 88888875. Close to the big money for those.

MilesWaits

Got me thinking about those two dollar bills now! That was one of the first things I collected as a kid. I think I’m going to head to the bank and try to get a stack.

sellitstore

Saying that $2 bills (or silver certificates) can't be a good investment and good collectible is just plain wrong. Just like coins, knowledge is king.

They are sort of like wheat cents. The vast majority of them you don't want. But you need to know what to look for. Certain back plates numbers, particularly on otherwise common $5 Silver Certificates and United States Notes (ever heard of 'late finished plates") paired with other faces can be worth quite a bit of money. Research in this area is still ongoing, and those "in the know" are plucking notes worth hundreds or thousands from "common" silver certificate hoards.

When the $2 were again printed in 1976 (after being discontinued in 1963), I got ten packs of 100 from my bank. Two packs were solid star notes which I flipped for $250/pack, netting a $100 profit. Those packs are worth MUCH more today. Some coin investments did better than my $2 packs during the past few decades, others didn't.

Original packs of silver certificates 1935s and 1957s used to sell around $250 each. In a few years, they doubled and tripled in value. Timing determined if you made money on those.

Even damaged and low grade $500s and $1000 are easily salable these days since those denominations became extremely popular over the past few years.

Getting them today from banks can be easy but many banks don't have any and may or may not be willing to obtain them for you. This has been my experience.

JWP

@TurtleCat Back In the 1970's when the civilian population outside of the bases were upset with the military, a navy base in TN decided to show the town how much of an impact the sailors had on the local economy. When pay day came, every sailor got paid in $2 bills. Shortly after pay day, the local natives realized the impact of the $2 bill and calm was restored.

Overdate

@Oldhoopster said:

@Overdate said:

@JBK said:

@Klif50 said:
I remember in the 50's that we would come across $2 bills. They quite often had one corner torn off in order to break the "bad luck".

That's very interesting. I got a red seal several years ago at the bank and it had a missing corner.

When I was in elementary school in the 50's, I would occasionally pay for my school lunch with a $2 bill. If a corner wasn't torn off already, the cashier would tear one off before giving me my change.

There are a number of reasons why people consider $2 bills to be unlucky. I heard a similar story years ago about tearing of the corner to break the bad luck. Also, if you received a $2 bill with all 4 corners missing, you had to burn the bill or be stuck with all the bad luck of the previous recipients. Now that really would be bad luck

I don't believe I've ever seen a modern $2 FRN with a corner torn off. Guess it's not a thing anymore.

I wonder if there are any hoards of torn-off corners out there.

nwcoast

Well, after reading this thread, I’m going to have to go check out my small stash of old $2 bills looking for torn corners.
This discussion isn’t helping with my dwindling faith in humanity either ;-)

air4mdc

Nice dialogue in regards to the two. I started collecting deuces years ago by the thousands, mostly fancy serial numbers , postage stamped and Educational and the Battleship series some star note art worth some decent money, I like stars as well.
I wonder why the Illinois Lottery has not figured a way on how to accept two dollar bill in their vending machines. The two dollar bill is slated to be change to a woman last I heard it was in the works.
Hope that it is a well designed bill…….38-26-34.

JBK

My local supermarket takes $2 bills in the self-checkout.

jafo50

@TurtleCat said:
I seem to recall that $2 bills circulated quite often at one point and then just kind of disappeared. It would be neat to see them circulated again even though having coinage for $10 and below makes more sense overall.

My wife and I used to go to a dance at the American Legion (pre covid) which cost $18 per person including dinner. The Commander taking the money at the door would order $2 bills from the bank to make it easier for him to make change of a $20. Sometimes they're hard to give away as people think they are counterfeit so I would leave them as tips at restaurants and diners.

JMS1223

@JBK said:
My local supermarket takes $2 in the self-checkout.

That reminds me, I learned that vending machines will often accept them too but some do not. I always found that interesting how some do and some don’t. Same with dollar coins and half dollars. Very few take half dollars these days and I have never seen one yet that accepts Ike’s.

johnny9434

@vulcanize said:

@moursund said:
Now, if you had a $3 bill... That would be something! 😉

A little over a decade ago, my friend's teenaged daughter got given one of those novelty 3$ bills which she thought was genuine and accepted it at their store in exchange for produce.

,, she learned what getting put on the red carpet is

Jzyskowski1

I know they have the Tubbs $20 bill waiting to be released but that’s the first mention of a change of the $2 bill. Never know.

Swampboy

At major shows I always see the dealer selling a $100 stack of 2's for $120.
Drive by any bank and that stack will cost you $100 and you'll likely get consecutive numbers, not that that means a thing.

JMS1223

@Swampboy said:
At major shows I always see the dealer selling a $100 stack of 2's for $120.
Drive by any bank and that stack will cost you $100 and you'll likely get consecutive numbers, not that that means a thing.

That reminds me of something that happened to be about 15-20 years ago. I found a few packs of 100 consecutive $2 bills at a bank and decided for the fun of it to see if my local coin shop would pay anything over face value for them. To my shock they offered me $300 per pack. I sold them 3 packs and made $300 profit. They put them in their display case for $475 each. Years go by and I see they never sold any of the packs of $2s and that shop closed around 2015. Kind of felt bad but I had been ripped off so many times prior to that. They always charged what seemed like 3x retail for everything.

JBK

@JMS1223 said:

@Swampboy said:
At major shows I always see the dealer selling a $100 stack of 2's for $120.
Drive by any bank and that stack will cost you $100 and you'll likely get consecutive numbers, not that that means a thing.

That reminds me of something that happened to be about 15-20 years ago. I found a few packs of 100 consecutive $2 bills at a bank and decided for the fun of it to see if my local coin shop would pay anything over face value for them. To my shock they offered me $300 per pack. I sold them 3 packs and made $300 profit. They put them in their display case for $475 each. Years go by and I see they never sold any of the packs of $2s and that shop closed around 2015. Kind of felt bad but I had been ripped off so many times prior to that. They always charged what seemed like 3x retail for everything.

I guess they had to overcharge you for your purchases to cover all the items they overpaid for.

air4mdc

@Jzyskowski1 said:
I know they have the Tubbs $20 bill waiting to be released but that’s the first mention of a change of the $2 bill. Never know.

Back when Lew was in charge and the decision was made to put Harriett Tubman on the twenty dollar bill there was mention of the two dollar bill to be changed on the reverse,honoring women. There was also talk of a third bill to be changed as well, I may incorrect on this , but I believe the ten dollar bill was mentioned.
Time frames were mentioned in regards to when the changes would be made. I am not sure on this , but Munchin may have put a stop to it. I also think he may have been involved in the delay of the Tubman twenty. Possibly this information was in Coin World weekly. I apologize if this info may incorrect. Possibly someone here would have a further scoop on this information.

daltex

@JMS1223 said:

@Swampboy said:
At major shows I always see the dealer selling a $100 stack of 2's for $120.
Drive by any bank and that stack will cost you $100 and you'll likely get consecutive numbers, not that that means a thing.

That reminds me of something that happened to be about 15-20 years ago. I found a few packs of 100 consecutive $2 bills at a bank and decided for the fun of it to see if my local coin shop would pay anything over face value for them. To my shock they offered me $300 per pack. I sold them 3 packs and made $300 profit. They put them in their display case for $475 each. Years go by and I see they never sold any of the packs of $2s and that shop closed around 2015. Kind of felt bad but I had been ripped off so many times prior to that. They always charged what seemed like 3x retail for everything.

Why would you feel badly? Anyone who sets himself up as a dealer should be considered an informed buyer. The only problem would be if you exercised fraud, and since you had legal title and the notes were authentic, there is no problem.