Insight: Phony as a $2 bill

By Ed Pierce
Managing Editor

My father was known to describe something he thought was untrustworthy or fake as “phony as a $2 bill.”

Contrary to a long standing misconception of many, the $2
bill is still in use in America and still a part of the nation's
cash denomination system. COURTESY PHOTO   

I’m not sure how this old expression came about originally but although I haven’t seen one in person for a while, I can assure everyone that $2 bills still exist and remain part of America’s cash denominations.

Featuring a depiction of Thomas Jefferson on the front and a painting of the Declaration of Independence on the back, the $2 bill has been printed by the U.S. Treasury for the past 160 years yet are a rarity in wallets for many.

According to the Federal Reserve last year there were 1.8 billion $2 bills in circulation, the highest volume of $2 bills ever in the past 20 years. Because of that, Federal Reserve officials say they will not ask the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing to print any $2 bills this year.

It’s not the first time that’s happened. In 2013, 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2023, no new $2 bills were printed. Between 307 million and 416 million $2 bills were printed in 2025 so there’s no shortage of that denomination in circulation this year.

The current design of the $2 bill was created in 1928 and was printed by the U.S. Treasury until 1966. Production was discontinued for 10 years through 1976 when it resumed for the bill sometimes called a “Tommy.” The Treasury attributed fewer people using the $2 bill as the reason for not resuming use of the denomination for a decade.

Since that 10-year span when no new $2 bills were issued, the perception of many Americans is that the U.S. no longer prints $2 bills or that existing $2 bills are collector’s items to hoard or stash away.

To boost interest in America’s Bicentennial in 1976, Treasury officials thought resuming production of the $2 bill would increase its use. However, many thought the redesigned bill was a special printing for the Bicentennial and stashed their new $2 bills away as collectors’ items in safe deposit boxes and dresser drawers hoping they would possibly increase in value.

Therefore, low usage is the real reason that $2 bills are the denomination with the fewest total amount in circulation. As decreasing numbers of $2 bills are used in transactions, the less the paper bills wear out and the need for the government to print new “Tommys” has declined.

Because $2 bills are saved as novelties rather than for spending, it also has led to its uncommon and mythical status in today’s culture.

The scarcity of $2 bills contributes to misinformation that the bills are now longer being produced and creates difficulty for anyone trying to spend them. Many vending machines do not accept $2 bills, and some businesses or merchants are unsure if they can be taken for payment or are authentic. I’ve yet to find an ATM that dispenses $2 bills if requested.

Bankers say many $2 bills are removed from circulation by those who view them as being scarce and more valuable than common $1, $5, $10 and $20 bills. But $2 bills are available every day at most banks across the nation yet are usually not handed out unless requested by customers.

To stay ahead of counterfeiters, starting in 1996, the Federal Reserve initiated redesign of paper currency bills and it’s an ongoing program. A newly redesigned $100 bill was introduced in 1996, followed by a new $50 bill in 1997, a $20 bill in 1998, a $10 bill and $5 bills in 2000. The program has become a regular schedule for introduction of redesigned bills with 2026 being a year when a new redesigned $10 bill will go into circulation coinciding with America’s 250th anniversary.

But a redesign for the $2 bill has never been proposed and probably never will.

According to the Federal Reserve, “The United States government redesigns Federal Reserve notes primarily for security reasons: to stay ahead of counterfeiting threats and keep counterfeiting levels low. Because the $2 note is infrequently counterfeited, the government has no plans to redesign this note.” 

If a question ever is asked on Jeopardy about who appeared on the original $2 bill back in 1862, the answer is Alexander Hamilton. He was replaced by Jefferson in 1869.

The reverse side of the $2 bill also has an interesting history.

From 1862 to 1869, a seal on the back indicated the currency was legal tender. From 1869 to 1928, a vignette of the U.S. Capitol building was used. Starting in 1928 and running through 1966 when production halted, Jefferson’s home of Monticello in Virginia appeared on the back side of the bill.

When the $2 bill was reissued in 1976, the reverse side had John Trumbull’s painting called “The Declaration of Independence.” The original is a 12 by 18-foot work finished in 1817 that has hung in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda since 1826 and depicts the presentation of the draft of the Declaration of Independence to Congress.

When I worked for my Uncle Ray as a teenager at a marina in the Thousand Islands, he once told me that “$2 bills or love aren’t rare, we just don't choose to share them enough.” <