1864 $10 Confederate States of America (CSA) Note - Purchase by the Grade
It all started in 1821 when Missouri was admitted as a slave state. That led to a border war in the late 1850s between Missouri factions and the anti-slavery settlers of Kansas. A full-blown war erupted after eleven southern states seceded from the U.S., formed the Confederate States of America, and attacked Fort Sumter on the South Carolina coast in 1861.
Confederate Money is Born
If you’re going to start a country, you need money, so in anticipation of the war to come, the Confederate States designed and printed their own. It was not backed by hard assets (gold, silver, or sellable goods like cotton or tobacco), but was simply a promise to pay the holder of it once the war was concluded successfully and the Confederate States of America was an independent nation. Of course we all know how that turned out.
Something’s Better Than Nothing
Because of the scarcity of printing equipment and the rush to produce the money, Confederate currency was often shoddily made. In the haste to get the bills into circulation, printed sheets of them were often cut by hand, resulting in uneven and crooked margins. The lack of good engraving facilities also led to many bills being signed by hand, sometimes by clerks rather the actual treasury officials.
It Wasn’t Worth Much, But Some of It Was Pretty
The South was short on engravers and printers so most of the paper notes were similar in design to other paper money in circulation at the time. Prominent southern figures were portrayed on the faces of the bills, and scenes depicting southern life adorned the backs. Most of those portraits and scenes were taken from existing engravings and copied to low-quality lithographic plates since metal plates were hard to come by. Many of the bills depicted mythological gods and goddesses, including the Goddess of Liberty, and others featured sailing ships, southern mansions, and scenes of southern life. Unfortunately, one of those scenes was of slaves toiling away happily away in fields.
To distinguish it from the new U.S. paper currency with its green printing on the back, the Confederate notes were mostly grey on their reverse, and became known as “Greybacks.”
It Was All Just Paper, Mostly
Shortly after the secession, the U.S. seized the New Orleans mint, leaving the Confederacy without a way to make coins. A couple of attempts were made to make one-cent and half dollar coins, but were not successful and the few that were produced never made it into circulation. About 500 half dollar coins were supposedly struck, but only four are known to exist today.
Instead, a half dollar paper note was printed along with other notes in $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1,000 denominations. In all, 72 different note types were printed in seven series from 1861 through 1864. Several state and private notes were printed, as well.
The most common Confederate banknote is the Series 7 T-68 $10 note, of which just over 9 million were produced. Early large denomination notes (1861) are the rarest with only 607 $1,000 T-1 and $500 T-2 bills made of each.
The Winners and the Losers
Of course the Confederacy lost the war and its already hyper inflated and often-counterfeited currency became worthless. But that was over a hundred years ago. Today, Confederate dollars are enjoying popularity as collectibles, and some of the rarer, hand-signed and counterfeit notes bring high prices.
If collecting Confederate money interests you, a good reference is the 2014 edition of Collecting Confederate Paper Money by Pierre Fricke. And be sure to browse the collection of Confederate banknotes available at The Great American Coin Company® online.
