Of all the most well-known Confederate notes out there, there are a few that pull above the rest. We have those next up in our blog series covering Whitman Publishing’s 100 Greatest American Currency Notes. Authors Q. David Bowers and David M. Sundman will give us the low down on this note and its types.
#27 – Popular Locomotive Motif $100 Confederate States of America Note
The Criswell types 39 and 40 featuring the locomotive on the left with steam rushing out of the boiler vent are the most famous examples of Confederate notes. The difference between the two types is the steam as the T-39 is straight while the T-40 is described as “diffused.” J.T. Paterson of Columbia, South Carolina, was the printer of the notes. The city of Columbia became the printing center for the Confederacy. In addition to J.T. Paterson, currency also came from Evans & Coggswell, Keatinge & Ball, and Colonel Blanton Duncan.
For both types combined, nearly 500,000 notes were printed by lithography, or a process in which a design is drawn on a flat stone and attached by a chemical reaction. They circulated widely and heavily will the locomotive depiction said to have been borrowed from W.L. Ormsby engraving.
The historic market value of this note in a Choice Crisp Uncirculated condition in 1960 was $5. By this publication (2006), it had risen to $150. In addition to the individual value of the note, it is also valued as a common Confederate note. Those values and conditions are as follows: $55 in Fine, $80 in Extremely Fine, $110 in Uncirculated, and $150 in Choice Crisp Uncirculated.
