Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 31.djvu/155

This page needs to be proofread.

Confederate Currency. 147

corner is a portrait of Washington. These $5 bills were all engraved by Hoyer & Ludwig, of Richmond, and are very unattractive, all being in black and white on poor paper with backs plain.

A BIG ISSUE.

The next issue of bills is a very large one, in fact by far the largest the Confederacy ever made of one date. All are dated September 2, 1861. There are no less than 27 bills, and some of these are ex- tremely rare and of high value; in fact, worth more than their face value. It seems that these bills were let by contract to engravers at several places, and that some were engraved by the government itself at Richmond, since no engraver's name appears in several cases. There are no less than seven $5 bills, nine $10, five $20, and three $50. There is a wide variety in these, and the different en- gravers seem to have been given full liberty as to designs. The $2 has in the center a picture of the Confederacy, represented by a female striking down Columbia and her eagle, the design being very plain. The engraver was J. T. Paterson, of Columbia. The $5 bills are as follows: $5, female seated in center, with a caduceous in her hand, and in the background a train of cars and vessel, to the lower left a gayly dressed sailor leaning on a capstan; engraver, J. T. Paterson. $5, portrait of Secretary Memminger in center, with figure of Minerva on right, no engraver's name. $5, the same bill as the one preceding, but printed in green instead of black; no en- graver's name. $5, sailor in center, seated by cotton bales, portrait of Memminger in one corner, and in other two females, one holding the scales of justice, while the other holds the figure 5; engraved by B. Duncan, of Columbia. $5, has the word five and "V" in bright red, with a picture of a machinist with sledge hammer on shoulder, seated in the center, and with a picture of a very pretty girl on the left; engraved by Leggett, Keatinge & Ball, Richmond. $5, several negroes loading cotton on a river bank, while an Indian princess looks at the scene from a bluff; engraved by Hoyer & Ludwig, Richmond. $5, five females, seated in center, with the figure 5 in their midst; the statue of Chief-Justice Marshall on the right, and that of liberty on the left; a beautiful bill; engraved by the Southern Bank Note Company, of New Orleans. .

TEN DOLLAR BILLS.

The issue of the $10 bills are as follows: $10, female in center, leaning on shield, bearing a Confederate flag of the first design (this