1862 Confederate Currency
Appraised Value:
$250
IMAGE: 1 of 1
Appraisal Video: (3:09)
Appraised By:
Rafael Eledge
Arms & Militaria
Owner
Shiloh Civil War Relics
Appraisal Transcript:
GUEST: I brought in a confederate two-dollar bill. I actually don't think it's worth a lot of money, but it's invaluable to me for a couple of reasons. For one, it came from my late husband's family, and... I'm a teacher. I teach eighth-grade history, and I use it as a teaching tool.
APPRAISER: And I bet the kids love that.
GUEST: They do. I have it hanging in my family room, and once a year I go in, take it off the wall and bring it into class. And if you turn it over, there's an inscription on the back. I try to tell my students that during this war, it wasn't unusual for men of both sides to get together and to talk, and this is one of those instances. There's a Confederate soldier who presented this two-dollar bill to my late husband's great-great-great-grandfather, A.W. Benedict, in 1863, and it's got his name here-- John Graver, I believe it is-- and it was done in a battlefield in Pennsylvania, and it's just been passed down through the years. My mother-in-law gave it to me, I believe, because I'm the one that likes the history the best. I had it framed between two pieces of glass so my students could see it and so they would understand that it wasn't unusual for these soldiers to talk, and then they would, you know, fill their canteens, go back to their respective sides and start shooting each other.
APPRAISER: And I've got a couple of interesting things that you can add when you're talking to the kids. If you notice, the 76 New York is the regiment. That's a very famous regiment, and the date, April 1863-- that's two months before this regiment would go into the Battle of Gettysburg.
GUEST: Oh, wow.
APPRAISER: They suffered huge casualties at the Battle of Gettysburg, which, to a collector or to a student trying to stay awake, is going to make a good little...
GUEST: Antidote-- yeah.
APPRAISER: Right. Exactly. The note itself... was issued in 1862 from Richmond, Virginia, which was the capital of the Confederacy. In the center of the note, we have the image. Do you know what that image is?
GUEST: No, I don't.
APPRAISER: This image is of the personification of the South striking down Union.
GUEST: Oh, wow.
APPRAISER: And they did a lot of those symbolic images on currency of the time. And do you know who this man is in the upper left-hand corner?
GUEST: Uh, no, and I probably should.
APPRAISER: He's Judah P. Benjamin.
GUEST: Benjamin-- right.
APPRAISER: He was in the Confederate cabinet, and he's the only man that was of the Jewish faith that was in the cabinet of the Confederacy.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: He came to Florida after the war was over.
GUEST: Exactly, and then he moved to Paris.
APPRAISER: Right. Because he didn't want to live under government rule. And it has a few tears...
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: A few folds, and that just happens from regular use. The note itself is about a $50 note.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: But with the inscription on the back, the history, the association with the Battle of Gettysburg, it's probably about a $250 piece.
GUEST: Oh, wow. Thank you.
