# How much are these \[$2 bills\] worth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 26, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459 "2013-01-26T19:02:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shinna_Minna_Ma)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/1 "2013-01-26T19:02:57Z")
My father passed away recently, and we found something very interesting when going through his dresser drawers. He had an envelope full of unused $2 bills, which in itself is not unusual. These were brought back into circulation in 1976 (see [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_two-dollar_bill)). Also in the envelope were about 10 bills which had U.S. stamps affixed to them, along with a postmark from the main Baltimore post office dated July 4th, 1976 - the bicentennial. (I do have a hazy memory of going downtown with him that day to get these bills.) How do I figure out what they are worth, assuming it’s more than $2? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/2 "2013-01-26T20:13:37Z")
**Shinnah** , I’m afraid I can’t help you, but if you ask a mod to narrow down your subject hed you might hook in a wider audience. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/3 "2013-01-26T20:28:21Z")
Somewhere between face value and two bucks. 😉 The thing is, _everyone_ went and got $2 bills that day and got them stamped. They’re not rare. Sorry. It’s a nice souvenir, though. Give them to your kids, or frame them and hang 'em on the wall. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/4 "2013-01-26T20:36:02Z")
I once had a coin I wondered about, so I looked it up in a book I found at one of the large chain bookstores. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/5 "2013-01-26T21:24:53Z")
Send a pm to **SamClem** and ask him to join the thread. He knows a lot about money collectibles. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/6 "2013-01-26T21:39:21Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Somewhere between face value and two bucks. 😉 > > The thing is, _everyone_ went and got $2 bills that day and got them stamped. They’re not rare. Sorry. > > It’s a nice souvenir, though. Give them to your kids, or frame them and hang 'em on the wall. Yes, this. I know from a very similar experience to yours which I had about a decade ago. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/7 "2013-01-26T21:43:22Z")
2 dollar bills are not that uncommon. You can routinely get them at banks. If they are worth anything over face value the difference would be minuscule. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/8 "2013-01-26T23:00:33Z")
Edited title to indicate subject. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/9 "2013-01-26T23:46:52Z")
The ones with stamps were prepared by collectors who put stamps on them and then had them canceled at the post office on the day the $2 bill was issued. As a souvenir. A quick check of [eBay](http://www.ebay.com/csc/i.html?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=two+dollar+bill+first&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc) shows similarly stamped and canceled bills selling for $6 to $12 each. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/10 "2013-01-26T23:50:33Z")
Yep. Pretty common. It was the fad that year. We pay a nominal $2.50 for them, and I’d probably sell them by the 100 at $3.50 each. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/11 "2013-01-27T03:18:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Yep. Pretty common. It was the fad that year. But would the Post Office cancel a stamp on an onion on your belt? ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/12 "2013-01-28T03:04:46Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Somewhere between face value and two bucks. 😉 > > The thing is, _everyone_ went and got $2 bills that day and got them stamped. They’re not rare. Sorry. > > It’s a nice souvenir, though. Give them to your kids, or frame them and hang 'em on the wall. No, everyone got them stamped in April 1976 when the bills were reissued. July 4th, 1976 was a Sunday, no post offices would have been open to “stamp” anything. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/13 "2013-01-28T03:29:07Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > I’d probably sell them by the 100 at $3.50 each. It was about that time I noticed that **samclem** wasn’t a numismatist, but a giant crustacean from the Paleolithic Era! God dammit, moderator, I ain’t giving you no tree-fiddy! (Probably just blow it all on proof sets and slightly irregular stamps. “Oops, Grant’s hat’s on backwards. Oops, Queen Victoria’s eyes look crossed. Oops, Abe Lincoln looks like a corpse… oh, wait, that’s actually not irregular at all.”) Anyway. The lesson here is, most of the things people collect in the hopes they’ll become valuable never actually will. Witness, say, every dollar coin introduced in the past half-century or so: Straight from the mint to the sock drawer, thereby ensuring they’ll never be worth more than about a dollar. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/14 "2013-01-28T05:07:50Z")
I’ve mentioned this before but, since OP’s Q has been A’ed, will mention a useful trivia factoid again. Cambodia uses American dollar. When I was in Sihanoukville, I gave $2-bills as tips until I ran out. Having run out, I tried to buy them back for $3 but was refused: they had value as souvenirs! Hence, I conclude they’re worth at least $3 … in Cambodian tourist resorts. ETA: Thomas Jefferson is world famous. Could his portrait be part of the excess value? ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/15 "2013-01-28T17:44:49Z")
SamClem says they are worth 3.50 retail - to me that’s a substantial increase over face value. Nobody else here like to repalce every $2 they have with $3? I wonder now though that the post office did this - isn’t it defacing currency and isn’t that prohibited? ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/16 "2013-01-28T17:53:34Z")
> [@FrankJBN](#): > > SamClem says they are worth 3.50 retail - to me that’s a substantial increase over face value. Nobody else here like to repalce every $2 they have with $3? > > I wonder now though that the post office did this - isn’t it defacing currency and isn’t that prohibited? I think defacing currency is only prohibited if it’s for the purpose of fraud. In other words, for example, if you drew some extra zeros on the bill in order to pass them as twenties. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/17 "2013-01-28T18:08:14Z")
I know of a factory in a little southern town that paid all bonuses in $2 bills. Every year thousands of them showed up in all the local stores. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/18 "2013-01-28T19:39:54Z")
> [@FrankJBN](#): > > SamClem says they are worth 3.50 retail - to me that’s a substantial increase over face value. Nobody else here like to repalce every $2 they have with $3? > > I wonder now though that the post office did this - isn’t it defacing currency and isn’t that prohibited? **SamClem** , I think, meant $2 bills that were canceled with stamps on the day the bill was issued. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/19 "2013-01-28T21:45:23Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > I think defacing currency is only prohibited if it’s for the purpose of fraud. In other words, for example, if you drew some extra zeros on the bill in order to pass them as twenties. Not quite. from [US Code - Section 333: Mutilation of national bank obligations](http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/17/333) > [@](#): > > Whoever mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or > unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank > bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national > banking association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal > Reserve System, with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note, > or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued, shall be fined > under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both. Note there’s nothing in there about fraud, just making them unfit for reissue. Fraud only applies when modifying coins: from [US Code - Section 331: Mutilation, diminution, and falsification of coins](http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/17/331) > [@](#): > > Whoever fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, > diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined > at the mints of the United States, or any foreign coins which are > by law made current or are in actual use or circulation as money > within the United States; or > Whoever fraudulently possesses, passes, utters, publishes, or > sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or brings into > the United States, any such coin, knowing the same to be altered, > defaced, mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled, or > lightened - > Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five > years, or both. I would say that putting postage stamps on a bill would certainly make it unfit for reissue. The Secret Service routinely suppresses various schemes to deface currency. For instance, a local strip club here in the Portland area was marking the edges of $2 bill with red ink. The SS put pressure on them to stop it: [WilliWeek article about it](http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19815-blood_money.html). They also got Where’sGeorge to stop selling rubber stamps meant to be used to mark dollar bills. ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459/20 "2013-01-28T21:59:59Z")
“SamClem, I think, meant $2 bills that were canceled with stamps on the day the bill was issued.” That’s what we’re all talking about isn’t it? Including those who responded like: “Somewhere between face value and two bucks. The thing is, everyone went and got $2 bills that day and got them stamped” and the one directly quoting samclem and saying “most of the things people collect in the hopes they’ll become valuable never actually will.” My point was these stamped bills have nearly doubled in value (and according to another post, more than tripled) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-these-2-bills-worth/648459.md?page=2)