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Errors and Auction Records
What the rare ones actually sold for, with the auction house, the grade, and the date. Content-farm numbers not included.
What Is the Most Expensive $2 Bill?
For a modern note, the record is a Series 1976 San Francisco star note with serial number 00000001, graded PCGS Very Choice New 64 PPQ, which sold for $35,250 at Heritage Auctions' FUN sale in January 2016. Heritage called it "the only serial number 1 Bicentennial deuce star known to exist in private hands." Its non-star twin, the plain San Francisco serial number 1 in PCGS Gem New 65 PPQ, brought $21,150 in the same sale, still wearing its original BEP brick label.
That $35,250 figure is repeated all over the internet as an "error note." It was not an error. It was the serial number.
One $2 bill has sold for more, and it was neither rare nor uncirculated: Gene Cernan's Series 1953 red seal, flown on three spaceflights including the lunar surface on Apollo 17, brought $91,519 at RR Auction on April 23, 2026. That is a price for a space artifact, not for a banknote, and it has its own page.
Other serial number 1 results for the 1976 note: a San Francisco example graded PMG 58 Choice About Uncirculated realized $29,900 in May 2009, and a 1976 note with serial number 00000002 sold at Heritage in November 2023 for $4,000. The American Numismatic Association's comment on that last sale is the whole hobby in one sentence: "almost every $2 bill is worth just $2."
Sources: Heritage Auctions, The Intelligent Collector, "$2 1976 Federal Reserve Note Serial Number 1" · CoinWeek, "The Bicentennial $2 Bill" · PMG, serial number 1 note, May 2009 · American Numismatic Association, "Way Too Far"
The Large-Size Records
- The first $2 ever printed. The 1862 Legal Tender Note Friedberg 41a with serial number 1 and plate position A, graded PCGS Very Good 8 and described as "the very first $2 note ever printed by the U.S. Government," was offered at Heritage's Long Beach sale of September 17 to 19, 2008 with an estimate of $125,000.
- The 1869 Rainbow note. Collectors call the 1869 $2 the "Rainbow" for its colored paper and inks. Recent results for Friedberg 42 run from $1,129 for a PMG 20 up to $31,200 for a PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 EPQ (Stack's Bowers, March 23, 2023) and $31,200 again for a PCGS 66 PPQ (Stack's Bowers, April 2025).
- The 1896 Educational $2. At Heritage on April 23, 2021, a PMG Choice About Uncirculated 58 EPQ example brought $5,760 and a PMG Choice Very Fine 35 brought $2,640. A matched Educational set ($1, $2, $5) in PCGS Gem New 65 PPQ opened at $44,000 at GreatCollections in June 2024.
- The 1890 Treasury Note. Greysheet's ranges for the McPherson notes run from a few hundred dollars to $62,000 (Fr. 353) and $69,000 (Fr. 355), and it calls Fr. 354 "one of the scarcest of all Treasury Notes with only thirty-nine examples known in all grades combined."
- The Lazy Deuce. An 1875 $2 National Bank Note from Raleigh, North Carolina brought about $43,000 in 2006, per a national-currency price reference.
Sources: CoinNews, "Very First U.S. $2 Note Ever Printed in Heritage Auction," August 21, 2008 · CoinWeek, "1869 Rainbow $2 Bill" · Collectors.com, Fr. 247 sales · CoinWeek, Educational set at GreatCollections · Greysheet, Fr. 354 · National Currency Values, Series 1875 $2
Error Notes Worth Real Money
An error is a mistake the Bureau's quality control missed. On a $2 they are scarce, because so few are printed and inspection is thorough, and the good ones have a clear price history.
- Doubled Third Printing
- The seals and serial numbers printed twice. A Series 1976 Cleveland note "with eight district '4's instead of four" sold for $19,200 at Heritage in January 2022; a PMG 64 EPQ example from the same district brought $14,100 at Heritage's FUN sale in 2017. The most valuable $2 error type on record.
- Inverted Overprint
- The third printing (seals and serials) upside down. A Series 1976 Richmond note in PMG 66 Gem Uncirculated EPQ "realized $2,760" at Heritage in January 2021; a Gem 65 sold for $2,400 at Lyn Knight in May 2022. Red-seal inverted overprints exist for 1928, 1953, and 1963, and the 1928D is unique.
- Mismatched Serial Numbers
- The two serials differ. A Series 1976 New York note reading B59208497A on the left and B59208597A on the right, PMG 64, was estimated at $500 to $700 by Stack's Bowers in August 2017; Coin World blamed "a stuck serial number wheel." A 1976 Atlanta note with all seven digits mismatched resurfaced in 2026.
- Mismatched Prefix
- One serial carries the wrong district letter. A 1976 New York note with a St. Louis "H" prefix on the left, PMG 66 EPQ, was offered by Heritage in August 2022.
- Printed Fold
- The sheet folded before printing, leaving a blank flap. A 1976 Atlanta example, "an exceptionally rare fold over on a deuce," was estimated at $1,500 to $3,000 at Lyn Knight in 2022.
- Gutter Fold and Cutting Errors
- The affordable end. Series 1928D red-seal gutter folds in PCGS VF 30 have sold for $375 and $225 at GreatCollections; cutting errors showing the neighboring note's frame were estimated at $200 to $500 in 2022.
- Ink Smears and Offsets
- Estimated at $50 to $500 depending on drama, and a pair of $2 notes with an ink smear and a paper wrinkle sold for $36 each in the same 2022 sale. A smear is not a windfall.
- Missing Third Printing
- No seal and no serial number at all, as on a Series 1917 Legal Tender Note pictured by Numismatic News. Also the easiest error to fake with chemicals, so buy graded.
Sources: Numismatic News, "The Coolest Error Notes, Part 2" · PMG, Doubled Print Error · PMG, Inverted Overprint · Coin World, Georgetown Collection at Lyn Knight · Lyn Knight, Georgetown sale catalog · Coin World, mismatched serials · Numismatic News, 7-digit mismatch · PMG, Mismatched Prefix · Coin World, Doris Bart collection · GreatCollections archive · Numismatic News, Part 1
How Grade Changes the Price
Paper money is graded on a 1 to 70 scale by PMG and PCGS. The single best illustration of what grade does to a $2 is the 1869 Rainbow note, one type sold eight ways between 2023 and 2026:
| Grade | Price Realized |
|---|---|
| PMG 20 Very Fine | $1,129 |
| PMG 35 Choice Very Fine | $2,196 |
| PMG 25 Very Fine | $2,562 |
| PMG 50 About Uncirculated | $6,100 |
| PMG 58 Choice About Uncirculated EPQ | $9,150 |
| PCGS 65 Gem PPQ | $14,030 |
| PMG 65 Gem Uncirculated EPQ | $31,200 |
| PCGS 66 Gem PPQ | $31,200 |
Source: CoinWeek, "1869 Rainbow $2 Bill: The Masterpiece Behind Today's $2", compiling Stack's Bowers and Heritage results.
What the Grades Mean
PMG's own definitions, abridged: a 70 must show "no evidence of handling visible at 5x magnification." A 65 Gem Uncirculated "may have one or two minor distractions as a result of minor handling. The centering must be above average." A 64 Choice Uncirculated has centering "off on one or two sides" but "no folds in the design." A 58 is "often a note with a single fold that crosses the design." A 40 Extremely Fine has "three or more folds," a 30 Very Fine "seven to ten folds," and a 12 Fine "rounded corners, margin splits" but "must be whole with solid paper."
EPQ (PMG) and PPQ (PCGS) mean the paper is original: in PMG's words, the note "will not have been physically, chemically, or materially processed to give the appearance of a higher grade." For a crisp modern $2 that designation is the difference between a collectible and a pressed note. PMG has graded more than 16,000 Series 1976 $2 notes; fewer than 10 reached 69.
Sources: PMG Grading Scale · PMG, Series 1976 $2 population note · Coin World, third-party grading and PPQ
The Smallest Star Runs
Star notes are replacements printed in their own serial sequence; the run size is what sets the premium. From the production tables, these are the thinnest modern $2 star runs:
| Series | District | Star Notes | Printed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017A | C Philadelphia, run 2 | 80,000 as reported | Sept 2019; collectors have seen serials far past the reported end, so the true size is disputed |
| 2009 | B New York | 128,000 | April 2012 |
| 2013 | L San Francisco, run 1 | 128,000 | November 2015 |
| 2003A | F Atlanta | 320,000 | September 2006; the only 2003A stars |
| 2009 | K Dallas | 512,000 | February 2012 |
| 2013 | F Atlanta | 640,000 | November 2013 |
Two phantom runs are worth knowing so nobody sells you one: a 384,000-note run of Series 2003A San Francisco stars appeared in a BEP report, but a Freedom of Information Act request showed "these notes were destroyed with none issued"; and a 128,000-note Series 2009 San Francisco star run was "reported in error" and never printed. For the 1976 series, CoinWeek names the Kansas City star (Friedberg 1935-J*) as the scarcest, with Minneapolis close behind, and notes that as of July 2024 PMG had recorded 6,040 star notes among 18,830 Series 1976 $2 grading events.
Sources: USPaperMoney.info, Series 2017A $2 · Series 2009 · Series 2013 · Series 2003A · CoinWeek · dealer premium guidance at GovMint
Not on This List, on Purpose
Numbers We Could Not Verify
Claims that a $2 ladder note "sold for $2.1 million" or that a solid-serial $2 brought $60,000 circulate on value-guide sites and could not be traced to any auction record. PMG's own survey of solid serial numbers lists no $2 at all. No verified price exists for a $2 double-denomination note or a $2 inverted-back error. If you see those figures in a listing, ask for the auction house and lot number.
Source: PMG, "Solid Serial Numbers"