If you or someone you know owns a $2 bill you could be holding onto something worth much much more. In July of this year, a $2 bill with a serial number from 2003 was sold for over two grand on Heritage Auctions.
To find the value of your $2 bill, look at the year and seal color. Bills with red, brown and blue seals from 1862 through 1917 can be worth up to $1,000 or more, according to the U.S. Currency Auctions website.
The US Department of Treasury has estimated that since 1862, six different kinds of $2 bills have circulated through the pockets of everyday Americans. In the 1860s, the $2 caused a scare as banks feared that the small bill would cause inflation in the economy.
The fortune of the bill shifted during WWII however. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing states,
“In early 1942, the Treasury forbade the carrying of US currency across the Mexican-US border. The Treasury did this ‘to prevent use being made of Mexico as a place in which Axis agents may dispose of dollar currency looted abroad. The only exceptions to this blockade were $2 notes and silver dollars as it was believed that there were not many of these items outside the United States. As a result, demand for $2 notes skyrocketed along the border.”
Sources
https://www.bep.gov/media/1111/download?inline
https://www.uscurrencyauctions.com/$2-us-currency-value-price-guide.html
