two-cent, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

two-cent adj.

also ten-cent

[var. on two-bit adj.; worth only 2¢]

inferior, second-rate; also as adv.

1876		Besant & Rice Golden Butterfly III 92: They’re a two-cent lot.
1917		B.E.F. Times 10 Apr. (2006) 196/1: Write me down for a two-cent boob if I don’t hand it to Willie.
1930		M. West Babe Gordon (1934) 64: Why, you goddam, low-down, ten-cent bum!
1934		B. Appel Brain Guy (1937) 37: Who wants to hang out on a corner for years, shooting pool, crapping around for two-cent jobs.
1940		W.R. Burnett High Sierra in Four Novels (1984) 302: Running around with a couple of ten-cent heist guys, hardly dry behind the ears.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 39: If that fucking Harry wasn’t there. That freak. And those rotten bitches. Two cent cunt.
1974		G.F. Newman You Flash Bastard 130: I want my lawyer here, now – no more horseshit. I’m not some two-cent hood you can jerk around.
1980		J.L. Gwaltney Drylongso 62: He tried to be two-cent slick, so his ass had to go.
1983		N. Heard House of Slammers 188: Marx [...] has obviously influenced your ten-cent judgment of me.

In compounds

two-cent dosser (n.) [dosser n. (1); note UK, despite US denomination]

a man who lives in stale-beer shops, which specialized in stale or old and strong beer.

1899

J. Flynt Tramping with Tramps 119: The next higher type of the town tramp is the ‘two-cent dosser’ – the man who lives in stale-beer shops [...] This district supports the queer kind of lodging-house called by the men who use it the ‘two-cent doss.’.