The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) explains that “for most of their history, $2 notes have been unpopular, being viewed as unlucky or simply awkward to use in cash exchanges.”
Notes were often “returned to the Treasury with corners torn off, making them mutilated currency and unfit for reissue,” the BEP writes of superstitious people who ripped the corners, hoping to reverse the curse.
Meanwhile, the New York Times wrote in a 1925 article, “He who sits in a game of chance with a two-dollar bill in his pocket is thought to be saddled with a jinx. They have been avoided as ill-starred.”
The $2 bill was introduced to U.S. circulation 163 years ago. Some believe that finding a $2 bill can bring good luck, so here’s a little luck to start your new year off right.
