Here is a note that crossed my desk I don't have any reference books on these so if anyone knows and could enlighten me it would be appreciated.
It has some of the look of a Sam Upham note, they were woodcuts as that appears to be from what I can see.
I don't know much about confederate notes but I'm starting to think that all of the notes that are blank on the back was some type of novelty item. I have two 500.oo confederate notes that are only printed on the front and someone told me a long time ago they were probably just novelty items.
http://www.rebelstatescurrency.com/reproductions.html According to this, the note is real. I'll keep looking. I have a Confederate $1 that is not printed on the back.
That is a listing for the mass produced notes of the 50's. I think this may be of the civil war time period... just not genuine.
I rember seeing a collection of these five dollar notes back in thee mid eighties. I was only about ten at the time, but I remember that the detail was not very fine. Saying that they were made with wood blocks rings a bell too. There was quite a few bidders that went after them, but I don't recall the final sale price. Yea, I know, not much help at all.
The serial numbers and signatures were written in ink. The ink contained iron, which would oxidize and turn brown. It often ate through the paper or at least stained the reverse. The serial number and the signatures on this note are black. They do not bleed through the back, and most of all they are not sharp. Even if the engraving was poor, the signatures were done by hand and would not look the way they do on your note. What is interesting, is that the serial numbers do bleed through the back. So I'm not 100% sure.
Hard to pass two phonies with the same serial... hence, the serial was left to fill in. I imagine paper money was so new and so rarely in hand folks had not become accustomed on what to look for to find the phony notes. As obvious as they are to us, they might have not known. Some of the counterfeits are so good, it's hard to tell even when you have a reference - the Type 29 Confederate is always tough if you don't know what to look for, same with 39 and 40...
