With the death of the penny, it reminded me of the last time I saw a banknote's demise; the two dollar bill. 1997 was when the toonie was introduced, and thousands of Canadians held onto their two dollar bills, hoping that one day they might be worth more.
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| T206 Honus Wagner |
My brother kept his two dollar bills in a dictionary, to try to keep them as flat as possible. I actually know of several friends who did very similar things. What I find most interesting about this, is that fact that the two dollar bill is very far from becoming a collectors item.
The major determinant of if something will be collectible is supply and demand. The rarest of all baseball cards, the Honus Wagner "T206", has fetched up to $2.8 million dollars. That is because after 57 were printed, Wagner forced to company to halt production. There are now estimated to be only 6 of the original 57 remaining. Just last week, a near mint condition card sold for $1.2 million.
Going back to the issue of the two dollar bill. How many two dollar bills do you think are still in circulation? Do you think that collection you have been saving all of these years may be your ticket to fortune? Well, you better be prepared to wait a very, very, very... very long time, because there are still an estimated 109,271,483 bills in circulation. When you factor inflation into the picture, you were probably better off just buying a coffee with that two dollar bill then hanging onto it.
So, before you go holding onto all of your pennies, thinking that they will one day be worth more than their face value, you had better think twice. Remember, that's the reason that the government is doing away with the penny already, that they cost 1.6 cents to make.
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