I bought this red seal and would like to know how much it is worth and how much does it affect the value with the corners the way they are
it will effect the value quite a bit. i am not even sure what a TPG would grade it due to the cut corners
It is worth what you just paid for it - even with intact corners, that is an extremely common note. In mint condition it isn't particularly expensive. Slabbed XF's and AUs have sold in the $20's this last year.
I don't mean to hijack, but what does the read seal signify? Age? I know only older ones have the red one on it.. But why is that?
It is a "Legal Tender" note, the first fiat currency issued by the Treasury beginning in 1862. Other than the good faith of the US government they had no promise to pay the bearer anything other than "legal tender" - but that didn't mean silver or gold. With the 1928 issue these LT notes were only the $1(very rare though and released only in Puerto Rico in the late 1940s) the $2 and the $5. These were issued until the Series 1963 notes(approximately 1966) and were dropped when the Treasury printed Red Seal Legal Tender $100 bills in 1966 and 1966-A. The latter are fairly scarce. I found one in a rural N. California bank back in 2005. The $2s and $5s show up often enough though, I have several dozen of each from 1928-63 in the last year from my banks. The corners were often ripped or snipped off with shears or scissors to "break the bad luck" on the $2 - people did and still do have some superstitions about them. I spend $2s all the time - have a wad of them in my wallet. Most people are pleased as punch to get them and will buy them out of the register etc. But occasionally you get someone that acts like you committed some perfidiously evil act by tendering a $2 in payment.
If it's graded and in Gem Uncirculated grade (65 or higher) it can fetch $500 or more. A raw uncirculated note will fetch about $300-$325.
