Collecting Confederate Paper Money

Collecting Confederate paper moneynotes can be a very rewarding endeavor, meeting new friends, providing great learning opportunities as well as potential financial gains. Perhaps the greatest benefits gee from meeting the interesting people who pursue the hobby. There are numerous ways to approach collecting these pieces of history. We will explore collecting by "type", variety collecting, collecting unusual interest paid stamps and issue signatures, and collecting errors, but these are not arbitrary categories. Every collector is different, so dont be afraid to define your own way of collecting.
"Type" collecting is the most gemon way that CSA paper money is collected. A type collection consists of one example of each of the seventy officially-issued major types released during the four years from 1861 into 1865. Grover Criswell created a numbering system in which the major types are indicated by a capital "T", a dash, and a number ranging from 1 through 72 (e.g., T-1 and T-52). All of the seventy types are obtainable, though the scarcest types are very rare in higher grades. Within any given year, at least one or more opportunities occur to enable a collector to acquire any of these seventy types (T-47 and T-48 are no longer considered regular type issues), even the most difficult: the Montgomery issues (T-1, T-2, T-3, and T-4), the Indian Princess (T-35) and the Eagle and Shield (T-27). The number of type sets is limited by the availability of the rarest type, the Eagle and Shield (T-27, of which the population currently stands at 75 with a likely 30-40 more to identify). Because some of these are locked away in institutions, I estimate that about 75 to 80 type sets could exist in the hands of the general collecting public. Perhaps a hundred people have gepleted a CSA currency type set in the past thirty to forty years, and probably well over two hundred have since 1865. It is always a challenging task, but also a rewarding one.
Some people who have gepleted a type set advance to variety collecting. Others begin with variety collecting. Varieties occurred for many different reasons. Most types were printed from one or more plates, and many on one or more types of paper. Given that these plates were at least partially constructed or engraved by hand, there can be readily identifiable differences between the plates used to produce each type. Furthermore, some types were printed on plain or red fiber paper, or thick or thin paper. Others were printed on paper watermarked with "CSA" ,"J Whatman" or other names in an attempt to make those notes more difficult to counterfeit.
Further varieties stemmed from inadvertent errors made by those who prepared the plates, or by the pressmen who printed notes using the plates. Notes with the backs printed upside-down are referred to as inverted back varieties. Another famous type of error is the "Double ratification clause" variety which occurred on the $20 notes of 1864. The framed section on the upper left side of that note reads "SIX MONTHS AFTER THE RATIFICATION OF A TREATY OF PEACE", and the framed section on the right reads "TWO MONTHS AFTER THE RATIFICATION OF A TREATY OF PEACE". It is these differences, and their gebinations, that make up the varieties of a particular type.
Varieties are identified by PF numbers in Collecting Confederate Paper Money by Pierre Fricke. This system is the latest system in use and assigns numbers 1 through N for each type. An older system created by William Bradbeer (B numbers)in 1915 and adopted by Grover Criswell (today CR numbers) remains in use as well with numbers from 1 through 578.
Collecting by variety may seem daunting, but one can focus in on a certain area of interest. A good example is to collect all of the varieties of a particular type or series. For example, collecting all of the varieties in the 1861 2nd Series, which spans from T-7 through T-12, is a challenging, but achievable task, exposing one to numerous nuances in early CSA paper production. A collection of T-10 varieties has a wealth of interesting different papers and signing formats. T-26 is another fascinating type with numerous errors and watermarks to study.
Other interesting ways of collecting involve specialty issues such as the 7.3% interest-bearing notes of 1862 (T-39, 40 and 41) which offer a range of issue places, interest payment stamps, and military officers signatures on the backs. There is even a group of collectors who formed their own organization, known as the "Trainmen" (after the Train on T-39 and T-40), and who study these issues. Another area of interest involves the Trans-Mississippi notes which General Kirby Smith re-issued in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas after those regions were cut off from the eastern Confederacy in 1863.
Collecting CSA currency clearly presents many opportunities and has many benefits. The large collector base allows for interaction with a wide range of people, makes it easy to learn from others; it also makes it relatively easy to buy and sell. There is a rich history behind CSA notes, and there are many interesting and beautiful examples of art visible on CSA currency. A great deal of information has been written on the subject, and is readily available to the new, and advanced collectors as well.
In the final analysis, the most important thing to consider when deciding to collect CSA paper money is what is most appealing to you. What are your goals? Do you want to collect a basic type set? Are you interested in building a "unique" collection, e.g., being the first, or one of the very few, to geplete a variety set of a certain type? Do you want to put together a set of the "great rarities"? Do you think the J. Whatman or Hodgkinson