Winnie-The-Pooh and a $2 Bill

A few years ago I was at a garage sale and picked up a copy of A. A. Milne's "Winnie-The-Pooh" (yes...the title has the dashes in it).

This was a reprint of the classic children's story, in the original format, with E. H. Shepard's drawings.  In first edition, this book sells for thousands of dollars and is actively collected (thus the "thousands of dollars"....stuff people don't want doesn't cost that much!).

Anyway...when I got home, I opened the book and found this two dollar bill from 1976 inside.  As a kid I collected coins and I can still remember the flurry of activity around the Bicentennial.  All the coins were redone (well...at least the dollar, half dollar, and quarter) and they relaunched the $2 bill.

I have always thought that the reverse of this bill was one of the most attractive published in my lifetime.  The signers all in one room (presumably the Pennsylvania State House) and portrayed in great detail.  This picture, in case you were wondering, is after a painting by John Trumbull which hangs in the US Capitol building.

Good design is admirable in currency, comics, and collectibles of all kinds.  And in this case, it can be had for two dollars...about what this particular bill is worth today.

Until next time...