Other than fractional currency, I didn't think I'll be able to afford very nice US notes from the 1860s. Well, certainly not National Notes, but thankfully there was another fun historic alternative available. I never considered Confederate money at all until now, and for my first note I picked this one... First of all, let me just say how hilariously thin the paper is. The fact that the note is almost see-through to the other side... But the paper wasn't the only thing thing about this note...it was also thin on spending power. In the North a $50 greenback would have gotten you food and housing for your family for an entire month. In the South the $50 CSD would have gotten your family maybe 2-3 days worth of food and not much more. Please feel free to post your Confederate currency.
Even though I qualify as a Union man, I enjoy Confederate notes as well. I wish I owned one, however. I don't even have any Union currency or coins. Congratulations and thanks for all the information.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a Union Forever man myself. But that doesn't mean I can't collect some obsolete currency of a failed short lived breakaway state from our country. It's still cool. I figured it would be a nice addition that compliments my growing collection of US Fractional notes from the same era. It sort of rounds up the history of the period.
A little "off the beaten path" question. Do you think most Americans would rather have say, $50 in coins or Paper money? There! I opened a can of beans. LOL.
The paper money for both sides was not interchangeable for coins. By 1862 or so, you could not have exchanged a Union paper dollar for 100 Indian cents. That’s why Civil War tokens were used. The southern currency was worth less, and its value decreased as the war continued. There is one Civil War token which has wording to the effect that Union issued cents were worth a 20% premium. I have a few hundred Civil War tokens, and I need four Confederate note varieties to complete a type set. As you might guess, if you are an advanced collector, they are four of the “big six” which are the most expensive Confederate notes. And yes, two of them are the $1,000 and $500, 1861 “Montgomery “ notes, T-1 and T-2. Both of those notes sell for 5 figure amounts. A really nice T-1 can sell for six figures. I’ll post some pictures later in the day.
Here is the 20% for coppers Civil War token I mentioned above. There is no way of knowing who was paying the 20% because no merchant is mentioned on the piece. It is my understanding that the 20% was the going rate during the war. This is a fairly common token. Here is the 1864 issue $500 Confederate note. This note is fairly common, but it brings strong money ($500 + to thousands, depending on the condition) because it is very popular. It's common enough that notes which were sort of used as "wall paper" were worth very little when I saw a group of them years ago. One thing which really makes this note popular is the portrait of General Stonewall Jackson which appears in the lower right. This is the only 1864 Confederate note which does not have a back. The reason is the Union captured the ship that was bring the plates to the Confederacy. The OP commented about how cheap the paper looked. Ink was even running in short supply to the point where the Confederates added water to it to stretch it out. This is viewed as a "red" note. There are also notes where the red part is actually pink. There are a few notes which are deep red. They bring strong premiums from what I've heard. I have never seen one. The only other $500 Confederate note was issued in 1861. It's a tough one, and I don't have it. I passed on one at the Summer FUN show which had been hole canceled. The dealer wanted $23,000, and I really didn't like it. Here's a $100 Montgomery note. This is a T-3.
Please take note that there are only 72 confederate states of America or CSA notes. Of that 72 approximately 1/3 are easily affordable and readily available. Another third start getting a little expensive at a harder to find but available. The last third is very hard to find and out of people‘s price ranges. I have about 40 to 50 CSA Notes and some of them are quite expensive. What makes them expensive is the condition of the note and any signatures or writing on the back of the note. Some of the notes have a colorized back but in order to save money, the confederacy have them printed only on the front. With CSA Notes it’s easier to find radar notes, ladder, notes, and other fancy serial numbers. They were usually handwritten, but they can be stamped as well.
