Product Details

1953 B $2 United States Note Red Seal Legal Tender Two Dollar Bill The Series 1953 B $2 United States Note comes from one of the most historically significant forms of American paper currency. United States Notes trace their origins to the Civil War, when Congress authorized Legal Tender Notes in 1862 to help the federal government finance the enormous costs of the conflict. Unlike modern Federal Reserve Notes, these notes were obligations issued directly by the United States government. The $2 denomination itself has been part of American paper money since the 19th century. When United States currency was reduced to its modern small size beginning in 1928, the $2 United States Note continued as part of the nation's circulating currency. The reverse features an intricately engraved view of Monticello, the famous Virginia estate. This Monticello design became closely associated with the small size $2 bill and remained in use until the denomination received a major redesign for the United States Bicentennial era. By the 1960s, the government was bringing the long running United States Note system to an end. The later red seal notes therefore represent the closing decades of a currency tradition that had begun more than a century earlier during the Civil War. Today, Series 1953 B red seal $2 bills are collected both for their distinctive appearance and for their connection to an important chapter in the evolution of United States paper money.