Does the american $2 dollar bill still exist

[carole]

I am curious, as I have some that were given to me over 15 yrs ago, can you still use them in USA , I guess I can cash them in at the bank not sure, your help would be appreciated, if they no longer exist are they worth keeping, will they maybe have more value ? thanks.

[Kfamr]

Yes, they are still in use. I think I remember using one before. We have tons of crisp new ones somewhere, that my dad is saving for who knows what.

[Tonya]

We don't make them anymore, but they are still around. Every once in a while, I'll come across them. I save them, but alot of people still spend them.

[carole]

THANKS Kay-ann, I guess they are still legal tender then, just not in production anymore.
Tonya you say you save them, is that because they may have more value later on, as they are no longer being made?

[Logan]

We have a couple that we have gotten over the years. And occasionally, you'll get one as "change" (I guess those retail people hate having to have them in their cash drawers, so they get rid of them as quickly as possible). Years ago, I was a teller at a bank, and people would ask you to save the $2 bills for them, as well as silver dollars and Kennedy half dollars.

A tradition was started many years back that whenever Clemson (that's the college I attended) played football in a bowl game, the fans would get as many $2 bills as they could, stamp orange tiger paws on them, and then spend them in whatever town the bowl game was played. It is an ongoing tradition, and I have one with the orange paws on it now that we have never spent.

Logan

[RobiLee]

Yes, it does still exist. Although it is not seen very often. I handle and count all the money for a local retail store and every once in awhile we come across some. Just a couple of days ago I counted 10 of them which is rare. We do not see them very often and always figure someone must of had to dig out there stash for some extra spending money. As far as I know they are not worth anything more than $2.

Robin

[Uabassoon]

I have a couple, I try to save them.. but everyonce in a while when I'm broke I'll use one to put some gas in my car.

[Edwina's Secretary]

I believe they are still being made! If you go to Monticello -- Thomas Jefferson's home --- change is given in two dollar bills (his picture is on them.) I was there in March and received brand new ones in change.

They are also used at race tracks as that is the minimum bet.

I always have one in my wallet!

[Logan]

I had to go "ask Jeeves" as this question really peeked my curiousity. Can you tell my husband is out of town tonight??

Government May Replenish Rare $2 Bills
Yahoo! ^ | Thursday, Jun 12, 2003 | JEANNINE AVERSA, Associated Press Writer


Posted on 06/12/2003 10:41:16 AM PDT by Willie Green


For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.


WASHINGTON - Like 200 bad pennies, it keeps turning up. The $2 bill, shunned by the American public for decades, could be making a comeback. After seven years, the government is thinking of printing the forgotten greenback once again.


"We do contemplate ordering more $2 notes," said Federal Reserve spokesman David Skidmore. The Fed has been talking to the makers U.S. paper money, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, about the matter.


The Federal Reserve, the supplier of cash to the nation's banks, had a huge pile of the $2 bills stashed away in its vaults back in 1996, when the last batch of the notes were printed.


Although the Fed still has a supply of the $2 notes, it's a much smaller one. No one knows exactly why, but some blame the human tendency to make a keepsake of an oddity.


"They are collected mostly," said Lyn Knight, president of Lyn Knight Currency Auctions. "People like to save $2 bills_ kind of like half dollars."


Roughly 9.5 million of the notes are currently held at the Fed's vaults, down from around 160 million in 1996, Skidmore said. (The Fed's inventory of $1 bills, by comparison, stands at 2.37 billion.)


The Bureau of Engraving and Printing may print 121.6 million new $2 bills in fiscal year 2004, which starts Oct. 1, said BEP spokeswoman Claudia Dickens. "Around July or August we will be able to confirm that number positively," she said.


When new $2 bills were last printed in 1996, some 163.6 million of the notes were made. The government stopped making the bills because there wasn't much demand for them from banks and their customers. Cash registers typically don't have bins for the $2 note.


"I think people are just saving them. The general population, when something is unusual in terms of money, they pull it and set it aside — `Gee, I haven't seen one of those,' " said David Sundman, a paper money expert and president of Littleton Coin Co. "It is just human nature."


Some people like to give them as gifts or use them at $2 betting windows at horse racetracks, a few money mavens suggested.


The $2 note can be traced back to the days of the American Revolution, when the Continental Congress issued $2 denominations in "bills of credit for the defense of America," the bureau says. Some experts say there were cases of $2 notes even earlier.


The current $2 bill, features the visage of Thomas Jefferson, the nation's third president and author of the Declaration of Independence on the front. On the back of the bill, the signing of the Declaration of Independence is featured. This version of the note came about in 1976 to celebrate the U.S. Bicentennial.


Around 655 million $2 notes are currently in circulation worldwide.


Even so, "people don't see many of them and aren't used to seeing them," said Doug Tillett, a spokesman at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. "You have to think back to seventh grade civics and think is this legal tender? Is there a $2 bill?"


The bureau doesn't have plans to make over the $2 bill as part of its broader, redesign effort. A new, more colorful $20 bill aimed at thwarting high-tech counterfeiters is first in line for the new look and will be put into circulation later this year. The $20 bill is the most knocked-off note in the United States.


The $2 bill could became a staple in cash registers and wallets, if the government ever were to decide to give the $1 bill — the most commonly used bill in the United States — the boot, experts said. But barring that unlikely event, the $2 bill — just like the penny — is probably going to stick around for a while, experts said.


"It is part of our history," said Sundman. "It is kind of a relic. A survivor."

[2kitties]

I have some Susan B Anthony coins as well. Should I hang on to them?

[carole]

Thank you Logan for that very informative thread, I found it very interesting, I think I shall just give them to someone who is passing through on a stopover in LA., as they don't appear to be worth anything more than 2 dollars no matter how long you hold onto them.

Do you know we call them notes in NZ, one thing I found hard when visiting the states was all the bills are the same colour, here in NZ our notes are all different colour, red for 50 bill, blue for ten dollar, orange for 5 dollar, green for 20 dollar and coins for 1 and 2 dollar,it sure makes it easier, I really had to watch my bills when handing them out, I guess when you are used to it though it does not matter the same.

Can you tell me what does 2 dollars buy in the states, like food wise?

[aly]

Originally posted by carole

Can you tell me what does 2 dollars buy in the states, like food wise?

Hmm, not very much

[popcornbird]

Originally posted by carole


Can you tell me what does 2 dollars buy in the states, like food wise?

One ice cream bar!

LOL

[anna_66]

Originally posted by carole
Can you tell me what does 2 dollars buy in the states, like food wise?

A junior bacon cheeseburger & fries at Wendys!



I agree Logan, that was very interesting. Thanks so much for sharing it.

[Logan]

$2 doesn't buy much, American, Carole, as the others have stated, unfortunately. You can still get a pack of gum, a plain hamburger/cheeseburger, a soda, for less than $2, though. Not much else, unless you go to the Dollar Store, where everything is $1!!! That is Scott's favorite place to shop!! LOL!!!