Here's my 2 cents worth

[Lee Schierer]

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

IMG_0278.jpg

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 2¢ Two Cents.jpg.

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.

[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.

[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.

[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.