What’s a Confederate dollar?

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The Confederate dollar was the currency of the Confederate States of America. It was used only during the civil war and quickly lost value over the course of the war. While the coin no longer has any value as money, it is often considered a collectible item, having value in a historical sense. During the period when the Confederate dollar was used as a currency, counterfeiting was a major problem. Today, both genuine and counterfeit versions of the Confederate dollar are valuable to collectors.

In April 1861, the Confederate dollar became the currency of the Confederate States of America. The banknotes were printed in a variety of designs, featuring scenes of black slaves, historical figures, and mythical gods. Subsequent bills featured prominent southerners. There were wide variations in the scenes depicted and the type of paper used, leaving the Confederate dollar highly vulnerable to counterfeiting.

Counterfeiting was easy due to the wide variety of banknotes. One way to protect the bills from counterfeiting is that, with the exception of the 50-cent bills, each one was signed by two people. However, this did not do much to stop rampant counterfeiters. Not only was it an easy signature to forge, but most of the notes were signed by one of the many women who worked as clerks specifically to sign the invoices for the Registry or the Treasurer.

While the counterfeiting certainly added to the problems facing the Confederate dollar, the main reason it failed was that it was confident in the South’s ability to win the war and remain a nation. Inflation made the tickets worthless. For example, a small amount of soap could cost up to 50 Confederate dollars. Had the South won the war, the currency may have been saved or never failed so badly.

In addition to paper dollars, there were also some coins. These were rare due to the need for precious metals to finance the war. Many of the original dies used to make the coins exist today in institutions like the Smithsonian Museum.

The fourteenth amendment of the United States of America formally states that the currency of the Confederacy will not be recognized. Despite their void status as money, bills in particularly good condition and of a very rare variety can be worth many times the amount printed on the bill. The best way to identify the value of any particular bill is to consult a professional coin collecting book. Collectibles are mostly valuable only to the people who want them, but as long as there is interest in history, Confederate bills are likely to have some value.

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