Andy WARHOL (1928-1987) Two-dollar BANKNOTE featuring Thomas Jefferson, hand-signed in black acrylic felt-tip pen on the front and stamped "Factory Wharol" on the reverse. Numbered C12171831A and dated 1976. U.S. Postal Service stamp of the American Eagle, dated April 13, 1976. Under plexiglass. Height: 6.62 cm. Width: 15.59 cm (Bill dimensions). Height: 15.3 cm. Length: 20.4 cm (Plexiglas dimensions). Accompanied by its certificate of authenticity from Galerie 32, Nice. Andy Warhol wanted everyone to be able to see both the commercial and artistic value of everyday objects. By affixing his famous signature to real greenbacks, he took this principle to the extreme. By adding stamps and having them cancelled by the U.S. Post Office, he turned them into unique objets d'art, each one authenticated in this way. According to his biographers, he signed over 30,000 bills. Most of them were $2 bills, the rarest and most sought-after. They represent only 1% of the bills issued by the US Federal Bank and are considered lucky charms in the USA. Most of the banknotes signed by Andy Warhol are from 1976, the year celebrating the Bicentennial of American Independence (the reverse of the $2 banknotes features a partial depiction of John Trumbull's famous painting, "The Declaration of Independence"). The 13-cent stamps and the U.S. Post Office apostille dated April 13 are references to the 13 states that initially formed the United States after the Declaration of Independence. Today, these famous banknotes are the only surviving original works by this global icon of twentieth-century art.