Two Dollar Bills
/We participated in a community yard sale last week and sold about $120 worth of ‘stuff’. ‘Stuff’ we had probably spent more than $120 for originally, but ‘stuff’ that’s been sitting around for who knows how long and was no longer wanted or needed. Now I’ve got $120 with which to buy different ‘stuff’.
During the course of the sale, one fellow paid me with a $2 bill... aka a “deuce”. I hadn’t seen one in ages and was surprised to learn through a little research that not only are they still in circulation, but they’re also still printed.
According to Mary Piles, CNB St. Louis Bank Historian, and I paraphrase...
The Federal Government began printing paper bills in 1862 including the $2 bill. Coins were the usual currency, so paper money was a bit of a novelty. At the turn of the 20th century, average Americans were earning <$15/month, so a $2 bill was a fairly large bill at the time. During the Great Depression (1929-1941), most goods and services cost less than a dollar, making paper currency rather impractical. Evidently, we’ve gotten over our reservations about paper money and rarely use coins anymore. In fact, many folks rarely use cash (paper bills) much anymore, including us.
The Federal Reserve stopped printing the $2 bill in 1966, but reintroduced it in 1976 in time for the Bicentennial celebration. Thomas Jefferson’s portrait was on the front and a new picture depicting the presentation of the Declaration of Independence to the Continental Congress appeared on the back of the bill. The design on the bill hasn’t been changed since 1976 primarily because Treasury design changes are made to curb counterfeiting and $2 bills don’t pose much of a threat.
Ms. Piles provided some interesting factoids about the ‘Tom’…
Nicknamed the “Tom” because $2 bills feature Thomas Jefferson’s portrait on the face
The $2 bill has sometimes been called a “Dirty Tom” because it was linked in the past to bribery, election rigging, gambling, prostitution, and bad luck in general.
An urban legend claims that at one time it was common for politicians to buy a favorable vote for $2. Therefore, having a $2 bill might be considered evidence that you had sold your vote.
In the early 1920s, prostitution was $2 a trick, leading some to refer to the bill as a “whore note.” (yikes!)
Racetracks have a $2 window, and if you won, sometimes you were paid in $2 bills. If you were caught with $2s in your wallet it could lead people to assume you were a gambler (or that you sold your vote and bet it at the track!).
Some conventions and tourism bureaus leverage the scarcity of $2 bills by urging attendees and tourists to spend rare bills during their visits, thus illustrating the economic impact such activities have on their host communities. These types of campaigns are known as “SpendTom” campaigns.
In 1976, the design on the reverse of the $2 Federal Reserve note was changed from Jefferson’s Monticello and now features an engraving of John Trumbull's 1818 painting, “Declaration of Independence.” Although the original painting depicts 47 men, space constraints meant that only 42 could appear on the note.
$2 bills are such a novelty that folks tend to keep them rather than spend them… which is exactly what I plan to do because… no idea why, now that I think about it. There are currently about 1.2 billion $2 bills in circulation vs. 11.7 billion $1s, 8.9 billion $20s, and 11.5 billion 100s. According to CNN, the Treasury Department plans to print 204 million more $2s in 2022.
Printing $2 bills is twice as cost-effective as printing $1 notes. Both cost about 6.2¢ per bill to manufacture.
Some $2 bills are quite valuable. Mine, however, is worth $2 and a blog post.