This bill is a $100 note from September
of 1861. This is one of my favorites and is certainly one
of the more beautiful notes ever issued, Confederate or
otherwise. The South never used dollar signs, but there
are a few big "C"s on the note. We've all heard
of "C" notes!? It is hand-numbered twice and hand-dated.
It also bears the actual signature of the Confederate treasurer
and register.
Criswell
Type 41
(678,000 issued)
Keatinge & Ball, Columbia, South Carolina, printers
This is an interesting bill
from a number of angles. Grover Criswell lists almost a thousand
variations of 72 different Confederate notes.* This bill alone
has 36 variations.
Criswell
Type 45
(412,500 issued)
B. Duncan, Columbia, South Carolina, printer
There is only one known
counterfeit version of this type. That is probably because
the note has a special green overprint that was hard to
copy and expensive to print. Blanton Duncan added the overprint
because he thought it would "look better", but
quickly dropped the overprint when informed by Confederate
Treasury officials that they would not pay for the additional
prinitng cost
I chose this note because
I am intrigued by George Washington standing center stage
on a Confederate bill. While Washington's portrait appears
on more paper money than any other individual in American
history, I was surprised to find that he appears on no less
than three Confederate notes.* As well, this engraving appears
to be based on the famous Gilbert Stuart portrait that graces
the US $1 bill.
A new book, Counterfeit
Currency of the Confederate States of America by George
Tremmel, is scheduled to appear in February 2003.
It supposedly has a good coverage of S.C. Upham, the
Philadelphia maker of counterfeit Confederate stamps
in 1862. 2003, 198 pages, cloth, price circa $37.50
Collecting
Confederate Currency
I began collecting Confederate currency in 1993 on
a drive from Atlanta to Pittsburgh. My father had
just died and I had to drive his car to my brother's
place. I decided to make the most of the trip and
stop by as many Civil War spots as I could. Somehow
I got the idea that I would scour the South for Confederate
currency and return home with the beginnings of a
new hobby.
