Viewpoint: Let’s put a woman on paper $2 bill

By Wayne Pearson

Woman on the $2 bill? Since the $20 is out of the running until 2026, what about the $2 bill? It doesn’t need any security features, and if we could get people to use it, women among them, Jefferson is still on the nickel. Using the $2 bill can help in some small way to save the paper dollar. This could also lead to a redesign of the back of all seven bills. Even on the larger bills, $5-$100, as long as the watermark can be seen, the back design shouldn’t affect the security features. Designs on the front and the back do not have to be related.

We have enough money shrines for individuals anyway. Lincoln – Lincoln Memorial; Jefferson – Monticello; etc. I can see the Apollo 11 eagle from the dollar coin on back of the dollar, the beautiful Great Seal Eagle from the 1923 $5 Silver Certificate for the $2, a bison (Lewis and Clark $10) for the $5, Iwo Jima Statue for the $10, the Twin Towers for the $20, Mount Rushmore for the $50 and Washington Crossing the Delaware for the $100.

The Apollo 11 design worked just fine with Susan B. Anthony. Her coin design was terrible, but regardless, two different ideas work fine in my opinion. I have noticed that Canada, since Queen Elizabeth II was on all of their paper money, is not on the $20, while four different men are on the other bills. Each time they redesign the bills, they keep the same four men plus the queen.

We haven’t seen a new design on paper money since 1976. I don’t count the different views of the same buildings on the $10-$100. This can be done and in a timely fashion. I think Secretary Lew had no idea if he would be in place regardless of who was president. Harriet Tubman would not be replacing Jefferson, rather succeeding him. Anthony succeeded Ike and Sacagawea succeeded Anthony. No replacement. That is why we can’t get any new designs on our coins, because so-and-so is too great. Other people of the next tier can be celebrated in different ways. And while I’m on the subject of replacements, when was the last time you saw FDR on a stamp? He was used and then wasn’t. No one is clamoring. The same for Lincoln and Jefferson. JFK was on a stamp last year for his 100th anniversary, but prior to that, when was the last time he was on a stamp? Washington is on a Purple Heart stamp, but otherwise all of these people have been replaced. Let’s get behind a movement for women on the $2.

This “Viewpoint” was written by “Vachon” and posted as commentary on the www.numismaticnews.net website.

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More Collecting Resources

• The Standard Catalog of United States Paper Money is the only annual guide that provides complete coverage of U.S. currency with today’s market prices.

• The Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000 is your guide to images, prices and information on coinage of the 1900s.