The $2 bill is considered to be unlucky.

 

The $2 bill is considered to be unlucky.

Considered rare, even if a billion of the bills are still in circulation today, the $2 bill is said to carry bad luck not because of superstition but because of its awkward denomination.

Its printing was discontinued back in 1966 but was again reinstated in 1976, strangely because the federal government wanted to cut down the number of bills being circulated.

American $2 bills were first issued as legal tender notes in 1862. Contrary to what is commonly believed, the $2 bill has not been removed from circulation in the USA. According to the U.S. Treasury, as of 28 February 1999, $1,166,091,458 worth of U.S. $2 bills were in circulation worldwide. In Canada, the $2 bill was replaced with the “toonie,” Canada’s two-dollar coin (also known as “the Queen with the bear behind” because it bears an engraving of Queen Elizabeth II on one side and a bear on the other) in 1996.

Two-dollar bills have never been popular. In 1925 the U.S. government made an unsuccessful attempt to popularize them by inserting one in each pay envelope given to federal employees. Several newspapers offered to aid in the campaign by giving prizes for two-dollar bills containing certain serial numbers. The Post Office Department, however, pronounced this practice a lottery and therefore a violation of the postal laws.