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of Troy wrote : we have a two dollar bill-- but that is rare too-- one good reason to make a visit to one of the US Mints it to get a $2 bill. They are great presents for kids-- cheap souviners of US. My neice in Japan loved her $2 bill!
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It's extremely rare to see a $2 bill in circulation these days. I cannot remember getting one in change for a larger bill for the past 40 years!
They were used a lot at racetracks for $2 bets! So having a lot of $2 bills sort of gave a lie to excuses to the Boss that you were at Grandmother's funeral!
When I was MUCH younger they were fairly common but presented the problem of being confused with the $1 ... The $2 is easy to confuse with a $1 as they look alike except for the number. Led to a lot of "short changing" i.e. getting no or less returned money than you should when a purchase made.
So, the $2 gained a reputation for being unlucky.
In the 1940s and 1950s you often got a $2 with the upper left corner torn supposedly to counteract the bad luck ... but in a practical way it drew your attention to the number in the corner so you were less likely to mistake the $2 for a $1. Whew!
The $2 would make a neat souvenir but I don't know where you'd get it except at the Mint ... For gifts I have often brought foreign coins home as souvenirs and bought the coin holders that encirle the coin without damaging it and that has a loop at the top ... available from jewelers ... so that the coin could be put on a chain and worn as a necklace. The new $1 golden eagle coins make nice presents for children.
I never confused the 50-pence coin when in UK because it had corners -- don't know how else to describe it -- and cannot fathom the reason the US hasn't adopted a similar shape. Sure would make the $1 US coin easy to distinguish from the US 50-cent piece which is nearly the same size.
Oh, for the non-USA coin collectors out there, the US Mint is currently making coins commemorating all the States's entry into the Union. Featuring the state seal on each coin. Legal tender. The Northeastern states, being first in the Union are now available. The 50 coins will be made in batches and the entire 50 state set available in, I believe 2005. The US Mint has a web site and you can order online and get news via Email.
wow




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The "torn corner" bit was what made them "unlucky"
Con artist would stack a two and one together. then tear of the corners of both bill, getting the same "tear" line. they they would "paste the 2 onto the one. you only ripped one corner off of each two, and the $2 bill would still be legal tender-- but you eventually ripped all the corners off the $1-- and with a bit of effort and tape, doubled its value. then you took a stack of "2's" with some bogus "2's" between the real ones, went to a busy store, and "bought" something-- so if every 3rd bill was bogus-- you got an $18 item for $15 dollars. With inflation, that is not much of a discount, but in days past-- it was a big deal!

It was done with 20's too, Four corners of a $1 with $20 denomination on it. crumple the bills, put them out of order, it would be easy at christmas time or other busy times to cheat a cashier. which is why they were taught to line up all the bills, face up, in the same direction, and look at the whole bill, not just the corners! Now its easy to cheat credit card companies, and that is not a federal offence...


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Of course there is a US dollar coin.

Okay, I phrased that wrong. I knew there were dollar coins in the US, and I'd heard there was a $2 bill, but I was aware that they were pretty much never seen in general circulation. Our loonies and toonies replaced the corresponding bills, so we have no choice about what to use! And we'd "always" used $2 bills, before the toonies, without confusion...but that brings me to the next post about confusing bills...

Confusing bills are never a problem in Canada, because each bill is a different colour (five=blue, ten=purple, twenty=green, fifty=red, hundred=brown). When I've travelled to the US I've been extremely confused because your $20 bills and $1 bills look essentially the same, to one who is used to looking for colour!

I think what this comes down to is whatever you're used to is the best. As a Canadian I'd never realized how much the colour coding was burned into my consciousness until a few trips to the US where all your bills look like they should be twenties!


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2 dollar bills
I have been told that the main reason why $2 bills and 50-cent coins are rarely seen in the U.S., although plenty were issued, is because there is no slot in the drawer of a cash register for them, so retailers discouraged them and didn't usually give them in change, since they tended to get thrown into the bottom of the cash drawer, under the tray with the slots holding the other cash. This is, I think, the main reason why $1 coins do not catch on. I doubt very much that $1 coins or $2 bills will ever catch on until the U.S. govt. takes the very sensible step of discontinuing the $1 bill, which has been discussed for a long time.


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retailers discouraged them

...tho' good ol Kaintuck loves them $200 bills


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Guineas
As noted, a guinea was worth 21 shillings, or one pound (20 shillings) plus 1 shilling. There was a guinea coin until the early 1800's, when it was discontinued. But for some reason, sellers of luxury products continued to price their goods in guineas, so that right up to the time of the introduction of decimal currency, a Rolls Royce, or a fur coat, or a diamond necklace, would usually be priced in guineas. Likewise, many professional fees were also set in guineas, so that your solicitor might send you a bill for 100 guineas for the costs of your lawsuit against the Harley Street specialist who charged you 5000 guineas to remove your tonsils. Of course, when you paid your solicitor, your check was for £105/-/-.


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And speaking of odd pricing practices: the apparently unbreakable practice of pricing items at one cent less than a dollar ($3.99; $89.99) was the result of store owners wishing to force clerks to give change with each transaction, so that the clerk would be required to open the cash register and tally the sale instead of pocketing the exact sale amount handed to him. This must have been before the days of sales tax ...


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your check was for £105

Coutts Bank will apparently still honour a cheque written longhand as '105 guineas'. This from those lovely people who have blithely lent some dotty old bat several millions without any security, just because she claims to be the Queen's mother - good to know the old values aren't completely dead!


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is because there is no slot in the drawer of a cash register for them

When we had our $1 bills changed to coins, everyone had to get new drawer inserts made to accomodate them. All the pop machines had to get new machinery and be re-calibrated. And everyone did do this, although the retailers sure complained. Eventually everything was straightened out - only to have the toonie introduced a few years later - then the whole process began again!


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So we find it REALLY strange that there is no US dollar coin, or any two dollar piece at all (bill or coin).

Both Australia and NZ have one- and two-dollar coins, but for some bizarre reason, the Australian two-dollar coin is smaller than their one-dollar coin, and, to add to the confusion, is almost exactly the same size as the NZ one-dollar coin. Given that $1AUD =c.$1.21 NZD, it can be annoying to realise, too late, that the one dollar coin one has just inserted into a vending machine was actually worth $2.50!



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