Here's my 2 cents worth

[Lee Schierer]

So, here is my 2 cents worth, where is yours?

307384

While going through things to settle my mother's estate, we ran across some coins. Among them were some old 2 Cent pieces. Here is one of them from 1865.

[Mel Fulks]

Not really a coin collector, but I am aware of how flat our coins have gotten, that one has the old high relief that makes
coins look like money. The new ones look like bus tokens.

[Jim Koepke]

Mine comes up all the time:

as in, just my 307389.

My recollection says it is from the first year of production, 1864. My excitement was all over the place when it was noticed to be what is called "medallion struck." Normally a coin when spun on its vertical axis will have the sides rotated 180º from each other. After a little research it was found the 1864 2¢ piece is the most common coin found with the die rotated to produce a "medallion struck" coin.

jtk

[Lee Schierer]

I also have a 1807 Half cent from the same source.

[Rich Riddle]

I also have a 1807 Half cent from the same source.
I have half a brain, if that counts.

[Chris Padilla]

Cool coins! I didn't know they had 2 and 1/2 cent pieces!!

[Jim Koepke]

Cool coins! I didn't know they had 2 and 1/2 cent pieces!!

The also had 3¢ coins in both silver and nickel. The nickel 3¢ coin was actually the first American coin to be called a "Nickel." There were also 20¢ coins. The 20¢ coin didn't last long for the same reason as the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin, it was too easily confused with a quarter.

Gold coins also had some unusual short lived denominations. Some were privately minted and became quasi-legal in circulation, especially in the west were U.S. coinage was scarce.

Before 1866 our 5¢ coin was called a Half Dime. It was a small silver coin. Due to precious metal hoarding of the Civil War coins of less than 10¢ value were struck in lower valued metals.

And don't forget Civil War tokens a merchant tokens. It was in the later half of the 19th century that laws were passed to unify the meaning of legal tender in the United States.

jtk

[Rich Riddle]

Does anyone know if there is such a thing as a three-dollar bill? My grandfather used to have an expression about a three-dollar bill.

[Rod Sheridan]

Does anyone know if there is such a thing as a three-dollar bill? My grandfather used to have an expression about a three-dollar bill.

Were there ever any 2 dollar bills?

I always find it funny when in the USA that there isn't a $2 piece of currency............Rod.

[Chris Padilla]

I can't tell if that is tongue in cheek there, Rod, but yes, there are two dollar bills here in the US. They are reasonably common.

[Wade Lippman]

A couple months ago I cleaned out my MIL's house. She had a big can of stuff like that. I was very disappointed to find out that not one single piece was worth more than melt value. You would think that 200 year old coins would be worth something, but they just weren't.
She also had a paper dime and a paper quarter, but they sell on ebay for almost nothing. Geez.

I do have a 1795 half dollar that someone spent in my Grandfather's store in 1930, but it is worth rather less than you would expect also.

[Moses Yoder]

A couple months ago I cleaned out my MIL's house. She had a big can of stuff like that. I was very disappointed to find out that not one single piece was worth more than melt value. You would think that 200 year old coins would be worth something, but they just weren't.
She also had a paper dime and a paper quarter, but they sell on ebay for almost nothing. Geez.

I do have a 1795 half dollar that someone spent in my Grandfather's store in 1930, but it is worth rather less than you would expect also.


If I had a half dollar coin spent in my grandfathers store in 1930 it would be worth a whole lot to me. I once advertised my grandfather's anvil on a Facebook garage sale site for $250,000, no takers.

[Dave Richards]

A friend of mine went through her grandfather's safe after he passed. She found a bunch of old coins and some fractional currency. There was also a newspaper from Atlanta from about the end of the Civil War. It was printed on the back of a piece of wall paper.

[Rod Sheridan]

I can't tell if that is tongue in cheek there, Rod, but yes, there are two dollar bills here in the US. They are reasonably common.

No, it wasn't tongue in cheek, every time I'm in the US I wind up with a stack of one dollar bills and have never seen a two dollar bill.

Thanks for the info............Rod.

[Jason Roehl]

No, it wasn't tongue in cheek, every time I'm in the US I wind up with a stack of one dollar bills and have never seen a two dollar bill.

Thanks for the info............Rod.

They were issued for a number of years, but never really caught on because cashiers didn't have a space for them in their drawers. Enough of them were printed and remain in circulation that they don't hold any collection value, but what is in circulation is mainly held privately as novelty. If I looked hard enough, I could probably find one somewhere here at home from my grandparents in a birthday card or something like that from many years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_two-dollar_bill

[Dan Hintz]

Were there ever any 2 dollar bills?

I always find it funny when in the USA that there isn't a $2 piece of currency............Rod.

They are quite scarce in the wild (like you, it is very rare for me to see one in a cashier's drawer), but they are readily available. In fact, if you go to the bank, you should be able to ask for a bound pack of $2 bills... if you're lucky, they'll even be freshly minted. I don't go that far since they ARE common (at least in that regard)... but if I see one in a drawer, I offer to exchange a few singles for whatever the cashier has on hand.

I even have a couple of bills printed with blue ink... they're backed by silver rather than gold like regular greenbacks.

[Rod Sheridan]

Thanks for the info Dan................regards, Rod.

[Chris Padilla]

While working for Taco Bell during high school, someone paid for their food with a $2 silver certificate (the one Dan is referring to) once. I immediately raced to grab my wallet and quickly exchanged it for 2 singles I had. It is probably still worth $2! LOL I had never seen a "blue one" before and thought it was pretty cool. I still have it...somewhere.... :)

[Mel Fulks]

Fed Reserve notes and Silver Certificates used to both be in circulation. Everything now is Fed Notes ,redeemable for...
differently portraited paper.

[Lee Schierer]

Were there ever any 2 dollar bills?

I always find it funny when in the USA that there isn't a $2 piece of currency............Rod.

Yes there have been several issues of them. They generally get picked up by collectors and aren't in common usage. There was an account many years ago about a Military base commander that was being harassed by the local city council regarding the rambunctious nature of some of his troops in town and the extra traffic they caused in the town. It got so bad that the base commander ordered all his troops to be paid in 2 dollar bills. At the next meeting with the city fathers he asked if the had noticed anything unusual in their banking lately. They remarked on how many 2 dollar bills they had seen. He then told them that all the military had been paid with $2 and they in turn had spent that money in the local economy. The base had no further problems dealing with the town.

[Larry Edgerton]

I have an 1865 3 cent piece around here somewhere. I tend to be a little more wordy.....

[Keith Outten]

Possessing a 2 dollar bill was considered to be bad luck by my parents generation which is another reason they did not survive in circulation. Neither my Mother or my Father would ever accept a 2 dollar bill.

Twenty dollar bills are rarely accepted by Native American Indians, President Jacksons portrait is on the 20 dollar bill.

[Mel Miller]

I once advertised my grandfather's anvil on a Facebook garage sale site for $250,000, no takers.

And what was the purpose of that???

[Jim Koepke]

Does anyone know if there is such a thing as a three-dollar bill? My grandfather used to have an expression about a three-dollar bill.

At one time banks were able to distribute bank notes. Much of it looked like regular U.S. issue notes. Some banks did print $3 notes.

The banks were supposed to have gold or silver on deposit to cover what was in print. Some bankers went a little far. They are sometimes referred to as "broken bank notes" by collectors.

Times were financially wild at times in United States history.

jtk

[Lee Schierer]

I do have a 1795 half dollar that someone spent in my Grandfather's store in 1930, but it is worth rather less than you would expect also.

A 1795 half dollar is worth quite a bit actually.
307437

That's a pretty good rate of return on 50 cents.

[Jim Koepke]

A 1795 half dollar is worth quite a bit actually.

I used to spend a lot of time with a coin dealer.

What the value of an old coin is can be quite a bit different that what a coin dealer will pay for the coin.

One of the reasons I gave up collecting was realizing my family would never benefit from my collection if they took it to a dealer instead of selling it at auction or through a broker.

jtk