Is there superstitions about US 2 dollar bills?

Answer 1

There are many superstitions and myths about US $2 bills, almost none of them with any basis in fact.

Unlike many other countries, the $2 denomination rarely circulated after the early 20th century. Various historians trace this to the fact that during the late 19th century two dollars was a common betting amount at race tracks and for, uh, "payment for services" in brothels. Many people refused to accept or spend the bills, fearing that others would assume they'd been frequenting those activities.

As time went on the association between $2 bills and vice morphed to the fiction that the bills themselves somehow became tainted by that use (!) In parts of the country, especially those with stronger religious beliefs, some people would wash $2 bills to "cleanse" them while others would tear off a corner to "let the evil escape".

These and other misconceptions caused a cycle of reduced use and reduced demand, to the point where the Treasury temporarily suspending printing after the 1963 series. That scarcity led to yet another set of myths and misunderstandings even among people who were otherwise well-informed:

• The denomination has been discontinued. False; printing resumed in 1976 and new series have been printed every few years since. As of this writing the newest series was issued in 2013.
• The denomination has been formally withdrawn. False; the bills are now and always have been legal tender.
• $2 bills are rare. False again. While they only make up about 1% of all bills in circulation that still amounts to several hundred million bills printed since 1976.

Interestingly, the United States is the only major country where a $2 denomination or its equivalent fails to circulate. $2 coins are common in Canada, Australia, and NZ, while Britain has £2 coins and the EU has €2 coins. Failure to use the denomination has a number of negative consequences for the US including increased printing costs and waste associated with the need for huge numbers of $1 bills, but continued public misunderstanding as well as opposition from the company that makes the paper used for $1 bills remain significant roadblocks to wider circulation.