I'm having trouble comprehending the process of adhering a postage stamp to legal tender and then attempting to mail it....0_o like you are paying to send your money away from you...how long has this been going on and why don't I ever get mail like this!!!
I'm guessing that Apr 13, 1976 was the first day the $2 bill was issued?
Interesting that if the collector wanted to keep the number of bills at a reasonable level, he didn't go with the 13 original colonies. Plus the chemistry stamp? Oh well, to each his own!
Also a brand new eBay account...
-Steve
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"What are you waiting for? Those stamps aren't going to collect themselves."
When the new $2 bill was issued, there was a big promotion for it. It was permitted to get a first day cancel on the bill by going to a post office and affixing a first class stamp on it. I did this with a few of them myself.
It was just a joint philatelic/numismatic venture for collectors. Today, each $2 bill with a first day cancel is worth about $2.
I lived in Texas, 1994-5. (When you say that, smile.) I received a $2 note in change. I couldn't get rid of it for three months. No-one would take it. I ended up going to the bank and exchanging it for two singles. The teller said to me "we don't use those around here".
Yup!
David
Ottawa, Canada
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"President, The Society for Costa Rica Collectors"
I live very close to Monticello (the home of Thomas Jefferson), so around here, the $2 bill is very common. I happened to take about a dozen with me to a trade show in Chicago. Nobody would accept them for purchases, and one store owner even called the police because he thought I was passing counterfeit money. Lucky for me, the Policeman had seen the $2 bill before and knew it was real.
The $2 bill promotion uniting paper money with a post office first day cancellation may have been a gimmick at the time but there are collectors now who pay much more than the $2 price: I sold 5 of mine obtained at small Massachusetts post offices for $24.50 each--divided up among a couple different buyers--so I would say the market has decreed they are worth more than $2.
Additionally, there is a serial number on the $2 bill from that period that is worth quite a bit more than most of the other $2 bills.
A couple of years ago I sold some stamps to a buyer in Belgium. He mailed me US currency in payment. Included was a mint fresh $2 bill. I sold it on Ebay for $8.
You do have trouble sometimes with people not taking $2 bills. I tried to pay for something one time with a $10 bill and a $2 bill. The guy wouldn't take the $2 bill, so I paid him with four $3 bills.
As an aside my travel agent would not exchange a $2 Singapore note. I always thought that all notes and not coin were valid for foreign exchange. I have some USD1 notes so I guess I will just have to visit the USA again to spend them !!
Malcolm
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