Talk:United States two-dollar bill

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The first part of the history section incorrectly cites the reference given at the bottom of the page. According to the BEP link, the first two-dollar bill in the United States was printed in 1862 and bore the image of Alexander Hamilton. The image of Thomas Jefferson was not used until 1869.

There's a claim that the US $2 bill is not worth counterfeiting. Is this true? My understanding was that the bill (because of its rarity) had a market value of about $40. Since counterfeit collector's items abound, I wouldn't be surprised if there were counterfeit $2's out there. So I'm not sure that claim is correct. Mike Church 21:37, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)

They aren't that vaulable. You cnan go to a U.S. bank and get them for $2.

Actually the older ones are worth quite a bit. There was a long period where none were printed, those before that period are collectors items (especially in good condition). - Hephaestos|§ 01:02, 10 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Any denomination bill is valuable if it's old enough Nik42 05:38, 9 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Question

Can anyone make the pages for the other denominations look the way the $2 bill page now does?? Here they are:

For the $1 bill, it doesn't have a page of its own at Wikipedia; you just use the Federal Reserve note page.

Hey folks. I just added some more content, roughly doubling the size of this article. It occurs to me that after my edits, the little blurb about it being adapted from the bureau of engraving and printing might not be quite so necessary. I won't remove it though; if my edits stick around, maybe someone who thinks similarly can do so.

Also, I went ahead and addressed the oft-repeated misconception that a two dollar bill is worth more than two dollars. It's not, as we covered here.

[edit] True or false??

True or false: the Series 2003 $2 bills have a new appearance. 66.245.68.167 18:07, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

False. I have several of them. They look the same as the earlier printings Nik42 08:43, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

Other than the series date and the signatures, Series 1995, 2003, and 2003A look exactly like the 1976 version. 75.70.123.215 (talk) 21:51, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Is the foot under the table (on the reverse side) a misprint? It seems to face the wrong way. --Waterygrave 22:22, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

It's not a misprint, that's correct. A cashier at 7-11 gave me one last night, and I don't know what to do with it. I'm trying to figure out how to use it without starting a riot. 153.2.247.33 (talk) 23:58, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Deleted Anecdote about $2 Usage

This section was just deleted by anon 216.78.46.11 , probably because its veracity can't be confirmed, but I thought I'd preserve it here. --Ponder 22:49, 2004 Aug 31 (UTC)

Why shouldn't it be restored? With a note that it's probably apocryphal, it's a useful example of Americans' attitude toward the bill. Nik42 22:06, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I remember $2 bills being given out to navy servicemen at the Orlando Naval Training Center on at least one occasion. I seem to remember it being part of an economic impact study. --ssd 15:04, 14 November 2005 (UTC)

I just deleted the "Navy" $2 bill story on the talk page, since it's on the article page. Perhaps the "consciousness" section should be moved to its own article (?) because it's apocraphal nature shouldn't be mixed in with true fact--Especially if most of what people know of this bill is the unverified urban-consciousness. Scoutersig 14:13, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Strip Clubs and $2 bills

It is also rumored that some Gentlemen's Clubs in Las Vegas give change for larger denominations strictly in two dollar bills, probably in order to raise the average tip given to the dancers that work there.

I live in Las Vegas and go to Strip Clubs often and I haven't ever received a two dollar bill as change (although I tend not to use high denomination currency in them).--Comrade Nick @)---^-- 07:17, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Interesting concept. I'll have to field test that some time. —RaD Man (talk) 02:47, 21 May 2005 (UTC)

Someone keeps deleting my addition to this page that speaks about strip cluds. I've seen it first hand at clubs. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 198.50.13.4 (talk • contribs) 17:50, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Read Wikipedia:No original research Hu 17:54, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

If you haven't seen them at strip clubs, then you're not going often enough! 153.2.247.33 (talk) 23:53, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Register

Few cash registers and money-handling machinery (such as vending machines) accommodate it.

As a cashier, I can say that that's not really true, as far as cash registers go. Every cash register I've seen has five bill slots. Since $50's and $100's are commonly placed under the till, and only $1, $5, $10, and $20 are commonly used of the smaller denominations, this leads to an empty slot. That slot is often used to store coin rolls, but they can also be placed behind or under the till itself (as I myself do). I've placed $2's in my register a few times, with no problems, and generally got rather good reactions when giving them as change, as opposed to dollar coins which tend to have mixed reactions Nik42 08:49, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] References

I have added {{citations missing}} to this article because there are only four references, and not a single inline citation that fits the requirements of WP:CITE. The template says that either citations AND/OR footnotes are missing -- in this case, inline citations are missing. Without a source, the information cannot be verified: see Wikipedia:Inline Citation, WP:VERIFY, WP:CITE, WP:OR

Latitude0116 06:32, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] US Navy

Does the US Navy really think there's nothing wrong with their service people behaving unacceptably on shore leave simply because they're an important part of the economy of the town their in? Do they really think it is arrogrant for a town to expect a resonable level of behaviour? Nil Einne 17:20, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Stamping money

A similar story [4] involves the use of two dollar bills by Clemson University fans when their football team travels to away games. Some two dollar bills are even stamped with the school's logo, an orange tiger paw, to reinforce the message that the money came from a Clemson fan.

Wouldn'tt his be considered defaced? Also if you're going to stamp your logo, why not just stamp them all and ignore the kind of bill? Nil Einne 17:22, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

No, it is not defacement. The law defines defacement as something that renders bills unfit to be re-issued. Search 4 Lancer 06:57, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Contradiction

This is about the physical size of the notes. Please discuss at Talk:Large-sized note. --ChoChoPK (球球PK) (talk | contrib) 08:29, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Recomendacion

Snopes el 25 de noviembre de 2006 hizo un informe sobre los billetes llamado $2 bills are considered unlucky. [1] Marcado como "True", sugiero que lo agreguen como información adicional.--GuiaMartinez 15:26, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

This is the English version of Wikipedia. Don't speak in Espanol when you're on this page. Fentoro 21:39, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Best Buy

I cannot find anything in the cited article (or its links) to show that the two dollar bills in the Best Buy section were sequential. Please cite this or remove it. —Scouter Sig 15:07, 2 January 2007 (UTC) Thank you for doing that. —Scouter Sig 06:28, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Why Did They Stop Making the Two Dollar Bill

I heard that the reason that they stop making the two dollar bill was because of a man named John Hanson was on the back of it. This man supposedly had been the first true President of the U.S. in 1781. Washington was elected President in 1789. This man was a black man. The term "United States" was not adopted until 1781. Triangulation 07:51, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm not quite sure how to (or if I even should) respond to this, but ... (1) "they" have NOT stopped making the two-dollar bill. The two-dollar bill is still printed by the U.S. treasury, although in significantly smaller quantities than other bills [2], (2) the image on the back of the two-dollar is John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence. This painting includes many of our founding fathers and signers of the Declaration of Independence but does NOT include John Hanson, (3) John Hanson was the first president of the Continental Congress, NOT of the United States, [3], (4) John Hanson was NOT a black man. I think that about covers it. --CPAScott 22:34, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

The seated individual in question on the back of the $2 bill is Robert Morris (financier), not Hanson, in any case. Badagnani (talk) 02:13, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Documented stories

For what valid encyclopedic purpose does this section serve? --CPAScott 03:27, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

CPAScott's question does not seem ever to have been addressed. Does the group of anecdotes about $2 bills really add anything here? My thoughts might seem drastic, but personally I'm not sure that most of the "The two-dollar bill in American consciousness" section is really useful. Xenophon777 (talk) 02:18, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

Non-acceptance of valid currency within its country of origin is pretty rare, moreso in the United States. It also helps to back up the claims about the bills' rarity (uncommon enough some citizens have never seen them?). The bit about Clemson and Geneva Steel shows how this rarity can be exploited to provide a vehicle for tracking economic impact. I wouldn't mind seeing the "specific business use" and "in song" sections removed though.—Scott5114 ↗ [EXACT CHANGE ONLY] 03:08, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

Does anyone have a sense of where the line should be found between an anecdote or two, properly cited, used to illustrate the perceived rarity of the bills on the one hand -- and pure trivia on the other? If a specific store or restaurant in some city hands out $2 bills, or if a certain celeb is said to make a habit of spending $2 bills, isn't that merely trivia... "to be discouraged"? Xenophon777 (talk) 05:21, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

Besides the fact that these serve little encyclopedic value, it seems that the sources for these anecdotes are rather weak. (Linuxlife (talk) 21:14, 28 February 2008 (UTC))

[edit] Banks

Another factor in the bill's rarity is the outright refusal of some commercial banks to reorder them at all. They tell customers who want them, "Customers don't want them." These obstacles could be surmounted if consumers would bank only where $2 bills are stocked, and then request all cash in that denomination.

That might be true, but why would anyone actually want to do that? I'd be pretty pissed off if I went to the ATM to withdraw $100 and got 50 two-dollar bills. --69.142.111.235 22:33, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

I do it all the time! Some of us like to spend large amounts of two dollar bills. Search 4 Lancer 00:51, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

ATM is irrelevant. According to your rationale, banks would have very few $1 bills, $5 bills, and coins at all. --ChoChoPK (球球PK) (talk | contrib) 19:27, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Clean up

I reordered some of the sections to help the flow of the article. Individual sections may still need some editing.--Janus657 21:01, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Queer as a $2?

An anon added that the $2 bill inspired the phrase "queer as a $2 bill". However, I've always heard it as "queer as a $3 bill", which is backed up by [4], though it also mentions using the $2 bill. I reverted. Should the phrase be mentioned in this article? —Scott5114 ↗ 04:49, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Regardless, I see no reason why the statement should be included in a respected encyclopedic article. Thanks for removing it. --CPAScott 16:46, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Reason for rarity

Why is the $2 bill not even half as common as the $1 bill? Something is definitely amiss if two $1 bills are more exchanged than one $2 bill. Here is an idea: maybe subconsciously the usual handler of the $2 bill sees it as one negative dollar bill and one positive dollar bill such that they cancel out such that they have no perceived value. Necessarily built within the subconscious is a bias against pairs. Mcampbell422 05:27, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

I think probably it's just people keep them as rarities. Another problem is that cashiers tend to accept them but not disburse them, so they end up going back to the bank at the end of the day. Regardless, unless these reasons have a verifiable source attached to them, they can't go in the article. —Scott5114 ↗ 06:57, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cash register contradiction

From the article, as of July 19, 2007:

Indeed, many cash register drawers have slots for ones, fives, tens, and twenties, but not twos.

...

Though many cash registers accommodate it, its slot is often used for things like checks and rolls of coins.

These two sentences seem to contradict one another. Technically, "many" doesn't need to be >50%, just a large number, but it still seems wrong to me that both of these phrases are used in the same article. Neither one of them is sourced. Some statistics or other verifiable information would be a great addition to the article, to clear up this confusion. --ΨΦorg 18:13, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

The "many" word is pretty unverifiable, since to get a truly accurate fact, you would have to survey cash registers across the country and see whether they use a 4 or a 5 slot till. The "cash register drawers have slots for ones, fives, tens, and twenties, but not twos." sentence is flawed since each slot isn't labeled, and the till can be arranged as I do, with $1, $2, $5, and $10 (last one is for coupons). I drew up a diagram available at this forum post: Wheres George Forums.

Basically, where you put each denomination isn't set in stone and is up to the cashier or employer, since other bills like $20's, $50's, and $100's can go under the till. I would say that both sentences should be removed for this reason. BirdValiant 02:01, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Recent Edits on Whether the $2 is the Rarest

I have no special knowledge on what denominations are rarest--nor even on what constitutes "rare" (e.g., how many issued? how many actually in circulation?) However, unless I've misread it, the edit about the $2 being the rarest (whether factually correct or not) seemed to make it clear that the $2 was the rarest denomination of currency... BirdValiant's edit suggests that the half dollar is in fact the rarest... but is it "currency"? My understanding is that "currency" is paper money, as opposed to coinage. Am I wrong? On the other hand, was BirdValiant referring to a very old half-dollar issue of paper money that I am unaware of? Failing one of those two, it would at least seem likely that the $2 would be the rarest denomination of "currency"... Xenophon777 (talk) 03:05, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

[Note: the Wikipedia article on currency suggests that both coinage and paper money are "currency," despite popular usage...] Xenophon777 (talk) 03:08, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wozniak

I'm not exactly sure why everyone keeps deleting Wozniak from this article.

it's notable
he was actually arrested by the feds
he pays $3 for a $2 bill
he actually gets them in blocks and serates them

How is he less notable than the guys that tried to pay in Taco Bell or Best Buy?- (User) WolfKeeper (Talk) 16:19, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

I've never heard that story, so i searched for it. Sounds like a made up story to be honest. Im not American, so im not sure what the Secret Service does, but interviewing someone for 40min for carrying money is extreme, and thats why its fake. Because its so extreme. You think the Secret Service can't tell when money is real? You think they wouldn't notice the fake ID? Over here our police only accept certain forms of ID. Because some ID isn't very reliable. My conclusion: Fake - and that is probably why it was removed. ← κεηηε∂γ ^{(talk) (secret)} 08:45, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

By the way, im not saying that the other ones are more realistic, but certain words popped out when i read the Wozniak one, things like "you can tell why people dont believe me" - classic. ← κεηηε∂γ ^{(talk) (secret)} 08:23, 28 April 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kennedy (talk • contribs)

If he's carrying fake money they would be interested in getting the counterfeit ring behind it. That's the kind of thing they do.- (User) WolfKeeper (Talk) 08:45, 28 April 2008 (UTC)