Historical Note

In 1912, the United States Treasury department gifted the University of Missouri Libraries a collection of bills from the Confederate States of America. This collection includes 135 monetary notes, all using the Criswell Numbering System. This system was developed by Grover C. Criswell (1934-1999), a flamboyant and energetic dealer who specialized in Confederate and Southern States currency. In his book by the same name, Grover developed a numbering system for identifying the many varieties of notes. The Criswell numbering system was based on the work of William Bradbeer and is still widely used today.

Confederate currency was first issued at the beginning of the Civil War and used widely in the South as a legitimate means to purchase goods and services. Some currency was printed by the Confederate States of America as a whole, some by individual states, and some by private banks. The bills in this collection were all issued by the Confederate States of America. Due to various printers, confederate currency tended to vary from printing to printing and state to state. Bills issued by the C.S.A. were hand signed and individually numbered by the Treasurer and Register, however, the duty became taxing with the number of bills produced, so secretaries were hired to sign the bills in later printings. It was not uncommon for notes to be printed on a single side or cut unevenly. Ultimately, by the end of the war, Confederate currency was nearly worthless, in part due to forgery as well as the loss of confidence in the Confederacy.

Scope and Content Note

This collection includes 50 cent, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 dollar bills. All the bills in this collection were printed in Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy. They were printed from 1861-1864 and were signed by a variety of treasurers and registers. The bills are in various physical conditions, with many having wrinkles, holes, stains, and tears. Images on the bills included many famous Confederate figures such as Jefferson Davis, R.M.T. Hunter, Judah P. Benjamin, and Lucy Pickens. They also depicted symbols and figures the Confederacy considered important, such as bales of cotton, the goddess of war Minerva, and the capital building in Richmond, Virginia.

Confederate Currency Collection catalog record.