I have been collecting Confederate currency, mostly by the type or "T" numbers for a few years. I'm down the "Big 6" which are the rarest and most expensive notes. I've decided that two of them are completely off the table for me. I find them unattractive and have no interest in paying a 5 figure price for something that is so unappealing to me. That leaves the four notes that the Confederacy issued during its brief time, when the seat of government was in Montgomery, Alabama. These notes were printed by the American Banknote Company, which was located in New York City. They were in the $1,000, $500, $100 and $50 denominations. Here is the $50 note I bought at the Summer FUN show yesterday. It was signed on the back by a Confederate officer ..... Jackson (not Stonewall) who was part of the procurement department. These pieces were interest bearing notes. This one paid one half cent per day. This note was among the second batch which barely got by the Union forces. After this, the Confederacy had to depend upon southern printers. The American Banknote Company had a branch in New Orleans, which made notes for the Confederacy until the city fell to the Union in May of 1862. Will I acquire any more Montgomery notes? Probably not. They are very expensive and currently not many of them are on the market. This one has a vignette which shows slaves hoeing cotton. This is most southern of all the vignettes which appeared on the Montgomery notes. The iconic $1,000 note features portraits of John C. Calhoun and Andrew Jackson. I have to laugh. If Jackson had been president when the southern states tried to secede from the Union, he would have sent to army to "shoot em, hang em or jail em." He almost went to war during the nullification crisis circa 1830. Here is an Heritage Auction image of the T-1, $1,000 note.
