I learned two things today. First, a $2 bill could be worth a lot of money. Second, they were around a lot longer than I realized.

I stupidly thought that when the $2 bill was issued in 1976 when I was a little kid, it was its first time. I didn’t realize it was a re-issue after them being discontinued in the 1960s. But before that, they were around going back to 1862. Alexander Hamilton was first on the bill but was replaced by Thomas Jefferson in an 1869 redesign.

As far as them being valuable, I read on northjersey.com that an auction site by the name of U.S. Currency Auctions reports uncirculated $2 bills from 1890 could fetch $4,500. Wow! And $2 bills that are uncirculated from most years between 1862 and 1899 might be easily worth over $1,000.

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Canva / TSM Illustration
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You probably won’t get lucky enough to have one that old lying in the back of a drawer or up in a box in your attic. So what about more recent ones? You never know until you check. A $2 bill issued in 2003 was worth $4,000 apparently because of the rarity of its low serial number.

If you’re thinking, "Yeah but what are the odds of having one in great condition?" consider this. The $2 bill is so rare to begin with that many people who came across them tended to hang on to them as a novelty, which could mean they barely circulated.

Some years they’re not even printed and even when they are, very few are made. They're rare enough that a lot of inexperienced cashiers at retailers won't accept them thinking they are fake.

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Canva / TSM Illustration
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So hey, look around if you think you may have one tucked away. You could be sitting on a few thousand bucks if the stars align.

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Gallery Credit: Bethany Adams

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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