I visited my daughter and her family the last few days in Virginia. We had lunch in a nice small diner. A few doors away was an antique store that I went in to look around.
They had a few pieces of confederate bills that caught my eye. My daughter lives in Petersburg, VA and they had a couple of bills printed from the Petersburg Bank I thought was pretty cool.
They had to hand sign every bill (as is all confederate money) along with writing in the serial number #23485 hand writing in the date 3 June 1861 (the 186 was printed, they hand wrote in the 1) then signature of the auditor all this on the left side of the bill in red ink.
The main text reads:
The City of Petersburg Virginia hereby pledges its faith for the payment of ONE DOLLAR to the bearer, which will be redeemed by the Chamberlaine in Virginia Bank Notes, when presented in sums of five dollars or it's multiple, and be receivable for it's licenses & other taxes, water rents, rents of City property & any debt whatever due or payable to the City. Issued in conformity with an ordinance of the Common Council passed 23 April 1861.
Signatures below: Chamberlain and Recorder. I am not sure what the names are.
To think they had to hand sign every bill, hand write everything on the left side must have been very time consuming! You can see the ink going thru the paper on the back side of the bill, but only the two signatures.
The One Dollar Petersburg Bill
Confederate 1 Front - 1600 by inspeqtor, on Flickr
Confederate 1 Back - 1600 by inspeqtor, on FlickrThis next note, the 5 dollar bill... on the top left reads "Richmond" on the top right it reads "Mar 13, 1860" (it almost looks like 1869 to me, but that cannot be!)
The serial number 9790 is hand written on both sides of "Virginia Treasury Note"
Below that is printed "The Commonwealth of Virginia will pay TO THE BEARER on demand FIVE DOLLARS at the Treasury"
2 signatures (I think it reads) Aud, Pub Acct on left on the right side all I see is Treas (also hard to read)
Confederate 5 Front - 1600 by inspeqtor, on Flickr
Confederate 5 Back - 1600 by inspeqtor, on FlickrThe 50 dollar note: the only thing handwritten are the 2 signatures at the bottom of the bill. The serial numbers are printed 22779 on left and right side.
Confederate 50 Front - 1600 by inspeqtor, on Flickr
Confederate 50 Back - 1600 by inspeqtor, on FlickrThe 100 Dollar note: the serial number is faint but looks like 12389 in red ink (on left and right side under the N (with small 0.)
Under where it says "ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS" in smaller type is printed "WITH INTEREST AT TWO CENTS PER DAY"
The owner of the antique store told me, if the banker comes to you, and if you are a wealthy farmer, he would ask you something like this: "If you give me 2,000 dollars in confederate dollars, I will give you $2,000 dollars in american bills, PLUS I will pay you interest once each year"
Confederate 100 Front - 1600 by inspeqtor, on FlickrIn RED above is the word "HUNDRED"
The stamps below are proof the farmer (or whoever) was paid each year
Confederate 100 Back - 1600 by inspeqtor, on FlickrEnjoy!
