1976 Two Dollar Bills

My son Joe is just getting into stamp collecting and we started talking about 2 dollar bills. I give them to my scouts as part of the loot they earn selling Christmas Wreaths as fund raisers for our scout troop. The bank gave me a stack of 2$ bills last month that included one with an April 13th postmark on a JFK stamp. I gave it to Joe for his collection.



Back when I was a kid, I sent away for a 2$ bill first of issue post mark on April 13th. It's in my stamp collection someplace, g-d knows where exactly (too many boxes put away). My Uncle Tony, a huge collector back then managed to get several bills post marked a day early by chatting up the bank people he knew. So I also have a 2$ bill post marked on April 12th.



Uncle Tony also scoured NY City in 1976 for special cancellations related to the the Bicentennial. One of the ones he shared with me was a July 4th starting line cancellation for Op Sail. It too is on a 2$ bill.



A little googling came up with just nothing on these post marks. One coin collecting forum considered them to possibly be a detriment to the bill value. Mostly because they are paper money collectors and not into stamps (to each his own).

I found nothing on the web regarding April 12th postmarks or the op-sail one, but I didn't dig all that deeply. Does anybody else have these or know of references to them?

-CTH

Not a lot of people collect these "first day issues". I've seen some who try to collect various cities. Big cities are easy, small ones can bring a premium.

Others make a big deal about the serial numbers: the usual things paper money people like, serial numbers that consist of all the same number, serial numbers that read backwards and forwards, sequential bills, etc.

Commemoratives seem to be preferred.

Nobody seems to be paying a lot for any of these. The April 12'th is a curiosity, but I doubt it gathers much interest. Same with the special cancel.

Very interesting. Thank you for educating me!
Sharing with others that didn't know much: "1976 $2 bills were released into circulation on April 13, 1976. Tens of thousands of people took their new 1976 $2 bills to the Post Office to have them cancelled, usually with a 13 cent stamp. The 13 cent stamp was used because that is how much it cost to mail a letter in 1976." /continue reading at>>>> http://oldcurrencyvalues.com/1976_t...ollar_bills/


I found discussion about April 6th and 12th issues:
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/19...1976.215990/

Thanks for posting, brings back memories for me.

My sister gave me one of these First Day cancelled bills in an envelope in 1976 as a present. Not knowing what was in it, I anxiously tore the envelope open...and promptly tore the bill in half! Doh!
Don

I'm obviously suffering from lack of imagination or failure of Trans-Atlantic empathy here, but ... why???

I dont seen like that before nice post

> I'm obviously suffering from lack of imagination or failure of Trans-Atlantic empathy here, but ... why???

Two odd tidbits of US history colliding and attempt to offer some nostalgia of sorts. A two dollar bill was considered a bit of good luck back in the 40s, 50s because it meant that you had more than one buck in your pocket. People saved them for rainy days, aunts gave them to favorite nephews, sometimes you got one when they should have been handing you a one dollar bill.

By the late 60s, they were pretty rare and no longer in general circulation. The US Mint decided to bring them back and with a cool engraving for the Bicentennial celebration. There were lots and lots of stamps coming out for the Bicentennial too, so the marketing geniuses figured they'd get stamp collectors like me and my uncle to invest two bucks and change and we did.

I followed the thread posted above to a coin/paper collecting site and the folks there considered the stamp on the bill to be marring the collect-ability of the paper currency. Having owned those bills for 40 years now, they definitely aren't as pretty as some of the stamps I've been looking at this afternoon, now that my collection as a young man is out of the attic and laid out across 2 tables and some chairs.

-cth

Aha. As far as I know, no-one's been getting a "first day" cancellation on a stamp on our new, plastic £5 note, but I may be wrong!

Q/ How many people?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I keep mine hidden away with my 1950's 3 cent plate blocks and first day covers. One of these days, these things are going to be REALLY valuable.

I was paid 5 $2.00 silver certificates for week end yard clean up in 1959. Took them to the stamp/coin dealer who gave me face value for the stamps I bought. He told me that the $2.00 bill was issued because that was a G. I.s pay rate. Mom and pop agreed with that. If so then there some nostalgia for the older ex service men.

I have one of these. I used to work a cash register in a grocery store. A customer handed me one as part of payment for his bag of groceries. I tucked it aside in my cash drawer, and at the end of the day, I "bought" the bill so I could keep it. I didn't' think they were really worth much, but I thought it was a unique item.

They are worth $2 each which is pretty good considering the price of a FDC for these stamps is worth less than what they originally sold for.

@2 bills are like 50 cent coins and #1 dollar coins. They are made in large numbers by the US mint every year, but very few are put into actual circulation and use other than people who like to have fun using currency that is not seen every day.

If I recall, I think the 'rules'/law had to be updated or changed to allow the post office to 'deface' the bills by cancelling them. Can anyone verify this my memory on this?
Don

I have one of those bills tucked away somewhere. The 1976 issue was beautiful with the Declaration of Independence signers on the back. Much better than the previous 1953 and 1963 issues which only showed Monticello on the back.

And speaking of 1976, I sold a beat up '65 Mustang convert for $300- in 1976. The buyer, a restaurant owner, paid me in (Eisenhower) silver dollars. Two bank bags full of coins. Weighed a ton!

Jack Kelley

"I keep mine hidden away with my 1950's 3 cent plate blocks and first day covers. One of these days, these things are going to be REALLY valuable."

Thanks for the chuckle!