Why was the 2 dollar bill considered lucky?

Answer 1

There are a lot of unfounded rumors related to US $2 bills, none of them true.

Some people consider them "lucky" because they think they're rare. It's true they only make up about 1% of the bills in the US, but there are so many other bills that 1% still amounts to hundreds of millions of twos. In other words $2 bills are uncommon, but they're definitely not rare.

Unfortunately, for reasons dating back to the 19th century, many more people think they're UNlucky, At that time the denomination was frequently used by gamblers and patrons of brothels. In that puritanical age, other people refused to use $2 bills because they were afraid someone might think they'd been to one of those unsavory venues. In some parts of the country rumors spread that the bills themselves had actually become "contaminated" by their use in illicit activities!

Low use today is a kind of circular problem. Because 2s are seen infrequently people who do get them in change tend to hold them as "curiosities" instead of returning them to circulation. That makes them even less common so still more disappear into drawers and safe deposit boxes. In addition, their low circulation means that cash drawers don't have slots for 2s and many vending machines aren't programmed to read them, giving people still more reasons not to use them and again making their use even less frequent. That makes the US unique among major countries like Canada, the UK, the EU, Australia, and others, all of which have a $2 denomination or its equivalent in widespread use.