CPM Forum
Foreign => US Currency => Topic started by: JB-2007 on April 14, 2005, 03:37:48 pm
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Are these notes still being issued? What is the current/last series year that was released?
Why is it that whenever i go to the states i never get $2 bills in-change?
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The US $2 notes are just rarely used. They are still printed... the most recent printings I believe being in 1995 and 2003. You should be able to obtain some from banks in the U.S., but don't expect to see much in circulation.
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Is there a rumour out there that the US residents are very superstitious over the American $2 bills? ::)
Jonathan, out! ;)
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Here's a pretty good writeup I found.
Claim: $2 bills are considered unlucky.
Status: True.
Origins: Many commonplace objects are said to be inherently imbued with luck, good or ill, so it should not astonish us that one particular denomination of currency, the $2 bill, has attracted its own measure of superstition.
Clerks have been known to refuse them (and not because they thought the bills counterfeit, as in the famed Taco Bell (http://www.snopes.com/humor/business/tacobell.htm) story) — theirs was an aversion to handling something believed cursed with ill fortune. The taboo against the $2 bill runs throughout North America but is not spread evenly; in some communities its presence is quite Unlucky bucks strong, in others almost non-existent. In the 1970s, for example, you'd have been hard pressed to find a Canadian $2 bill anywhere in the province of Alberta because one practically couldn't give them away there.
American $2 bills were first issued as legal tender notes in 1862. Contrary to what is commonly believed, the $2 bill has not been removed from circulation in the USA. According to the U.S. Treasury, as of 28 February 1999, $1,166,091,458 worth of U.S. $2 bills were in circulation worldwide. In Canada, the $2 bill was replaced with the "toonie," Canada's two-dollar coin (also known as "the Queen with the bear behind" because it bears an engraving of Queen Elizabeth II on one side and a bear on the other) in 1996.
Two-dollar bills have never been popular. In 1925 the U.S. government made an unsuccessful attempt to popularize them by inserting one in each pay envelope given to federal employees. Several newspapers offered to aid in the campaign by giving prizes for two-dollar bills containing certain serial numbers. The Post Office Department, however, pronounced this practice a lottery and therefore a violation of the postal laws.
Those who shy from the $2 bill give a variety of reasons for their antipathy:
- At one time a session with a prostitute cost $2, thus possession of one of those bills proved its holder had been consorting with ladies of the evening. Under this line of thought, at the very least the bill at some point in its career had been through a joy house and was now forever tainted.
The reasoning here is flawed — just because a thing costs two dollars does not mean exact change must be used to pay for it. Besides, a gent who'd just engaged the services of a hooker wouldn't be returning home with the telltale $2 bill in his wallet, because he would have just spent it. (And yes, in the 1930s two dollars would have bought you a five-minute interlude with the gal of your choice at a low-end brothel. Fellows generally left their shoes on during those quick encounters.)
- In the days when election-rigging was the norm, campaign bosses would hire men to vote for their candidate. The ringers would be trucked in, given names from the voters' list to claim as their own, and the name of the man they were to vote for. Once they'd done the deed, they would each be rewarded with a $2 bill. The same fellows would be moved from polling place to polling place, each time to assume new names, vote for the same guy, and be paid again. Having $2 bills in your wallet was therefore proof you'd sold your vote.
It would be naive to believe vote selling never went on, but that does not necessarily mean two dollars was the standard price for a vote or that, even if it were, the wage was paid with a $2 bill rather than two singles (or, much more likely, two silver dollars).
- The standard bet in American horse racing was two dollars, and winners were paid with $2 bills. Ergo, possession of a sheaf of these notes was prima facie evidence that one had been betting on the hay burners. Given the prohibitions against gambling (in the not-so-distant past it was considered an activity thoroughly steeped in sin), no respectable person wanted to be associated with it, not even by happenstance.
Although $2 was the most common amount to bet on the ponies, the parimutuel nature of racing's betting system meant that winners didn't receive exactly the amount they bet: a successful $2 bettor would be paid $4.30 or $8.40 or $10.70 or some other amount, depending upon the odds established for the various horses in the race at post time. That some bettors may have used $2 bill to place their bets doesn't mean everyone's winnings were paid in $2 bills.
Aside from ladies of the night, horse races, and bought votes, another reason given as the likely source of the $2 bill's perceived unsavory aspect stems from its most common name: "Deuce" is one of the many slang terms for the devil (as in, "The deuce you say!").
Whatever the cause, $2 bills are widely considered unlucky. For those troubled by this association, superstition offers a counter to two-dollar ill luck: tear a corner from the bill. Some who hold this view assert that one must discard the bill once all its corners are gone, but we don't hold such extreme views.
Barbara "two for the road" Mikkelson
Source: Urban Legends Reference Pages: Business (Two Buck Luck) (http://www.snopes.com/business/money/twodollar.asp)
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I'm cursed! I cashed a US $ cheque for $23 from my local TD Bank Branch, and low and behold - I received a $20, $1, and a $2 US Note!
Darn! >:(
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and I always thought they had been removed from circulation!
wow, the things we learn on this forum! :o
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Honestly... i really thought so to. I had absolutely no idea and i was very very suprised to know that there was a 2003 series $2 bill. This indeed is a very interesting topic i started :D
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There have been several other real and invented reasons for the apparent aversion to $2-bills in the USA. One I had heard was that Nazi Germany was creating millions of dollars worth of phoney $2s to flood the US economy with more backnotes than it could back in gold or silver. This story was popular enough that they even created an episode of Wonder Woman, based on that very premise.
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By the way, I carry a 2003 $2 on me when I work at the coins shop on the weekends, so when my doubting customers try to challenge my claim, I have the proof right there for them to see.
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Posted by: BWJM Posted on: Apr 14th 2005, 12:52pm
The US $2 notes are just rarely used. They are still printed... the most recent printings I believe being in 1995 and 2003. You should be able to obtain some from banks in the U.S., but don't expect to see much in circulation
I have some consecutive notes I bought in 1995. Where does it indicate the printing year. Does series F translate into a specific year of printing?
Thanks
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It won't tell you the printing year, but look for "SERIES OF xxxx". The xxxx will be a year. That information, combined with the denomination and the serial number, can help narrow down to almost exactly which MONTH the note was printed. If you post your notes' information, I can try to look it up for you.
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Sorry for the delay.
$2, F50335510A, series 1976, signatures are Neff/Simon?
Certainly not urgent. I assume they're still worth only $2, but just curious if they were printed a month before I bought them or earier.
Thank you,
Craig
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According to BEP records, your note was printed between Dec 1975 and July 1976 (inclusive). Exact month records were not available for anything before August 1976.
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Thank you Brent.
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your note was printed between Dec 1975 and July 1976 (inclusive).
Is it reasonable to assume these notes were printed in 1976 and then sat around for almost 20 years before being issued for circulation? I got them from a Michigan casino and it's unlikely they would have possessed them for any length of time.
According to BEP records
I'm not familiar with BEP. Is there an online source for looking up this info or is it from one of your resource books?
Craig
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It is certainly possible that they were in a vault somewhere for two decades. After the 1976 notes were printed, no more $2s got printed until 1996 when the last stocks of 1976 notes ran out. The next print run was in 2003.
The BEP is the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing. They make all the US money, paper and coin. It is then sold to the Federal Reserve Banks and issued to the various banks around the country. The BEP has issued monthly production reports to the public since August 1976.