What Does "First Day Of Issue" On My Two Dollar Bill Mean?

The lucky chap got it on the first day of issue and got it stamped.

But someone has removed the stamp :(

Also, I thought the first day of issue for 1976 $2s was April 17... or was that for pennies?

First day of issue was April 13th, day after my birthday and I received 10 of them as a gift.I was 15 years old. There should have been a postage stamp on them from the post office.

There was a stamp upper right corner over the two. You can see the spot where it was ... the top ink line ends and there is wear where the stamp was. Was there a US stamp issued on that date?

"First Day of Issue" is a stamp collecting term. On the day a stamp is issued, special envelopes called First Day Covers are created which commemorate the event/person also commemorated by the stamp being issued. A copy of the stamp in question is affixed, and it receives a "First Day of Issue" cancellation with the date matching the date of issue.

Here is an example of a First Day Cover (FDC):



As you can see, this one commemorates the Voice of America and the stamp was issued on August 1, 1967.

There is also a provision under law that allows people to create their own FDC's; all they have to do is send the envelope they want to use plus the cost of the stamps to the Postmaster in the city/town where the stamp is being officially issued (the locale varies with the issue) and Post Office staff there will affix the new issue and cancel it accordingly.

In 1976, with all the hoopla of the Bicentennial, and the issue of a $2 bill showing the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the back of it, the two ideas collided with stamps being affixed on the release date of these new $2 bills. Typically, though, this regular letter rate stamp (called a "definitive") was the one used, and you could see how it would tie very nicely into the Bicentennial theme:



and "First Day of Issue" in these cases referred not to the stamp, but to the bill. This was done in all cities where there were Federal Reserve Banks, as named on the seals on the face of the note.

The cancellation on your note refers to the following stamp, which was issued on October 18, 1978, and not the note:



As mentioned, the stamp sat in the upper right, as you can see from the missing part of the cancellation as well as the discoloured area.

This is what a day of issue 1976 2 dollar bill would look like.

Wow! Thanks for all that information. It's all new to me, I am still fairly new to currency collecting. I started out with coins, but this note opened up my eyes to collecting paper too. All the history in it is fascinating!

Ah, Halfwitty, I had forgotten that it was the 13c Eagle from the Americana series that was the one used -- seemed to me that the rate was a dime back then, but I was mistaken. In any event, you can see the Bicentennial theme carried through to the stamp used. And yes, in some cases people just took them to their local Post Office to have them cancelled.