Confederate Type-41 Note

Article Profile

Classification: 

Era: Mid Victorian (1860-1879)

Maker: Keatinge & Ball

Dimensions: 18cm x 7.5cm

Materials: Rice paper (a textile-based rag paper made of linen and cotton fibers)

Historical Significance

This is an 1862 $100 note produced by Keatinge & Ball for the Confederate States of America during the U.S. Civil War. They were authorised by the Act of April 17, 1862. In a contrast to modern currency, these were interest-bearing notes, acting like a government bond rather than just cash, and would pay the bearer two cents in interest every day (which would be around 7.3% per year). Based on the date on the front of the note, this particular bill was produced on December 1st, 1862. Through that fact, it would be worth $100.62 by January 1st, 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation was published. 

This banknote is known as the "Hoer Note", on account of the imagery on the note. The first of which is the enslaved labourers hoeing cotton in a field, a figure representing Columbia, a personification of the Southern Confederacy, and then John C. Calhoun. Calhoun was the 7th Vice President of the United States from 1825 until 1832, who was a fierce defender of slavery and "States' Rights" before the war. The design of this note was a deliberate piece of political messaging, and this can be seen in two ways. Firstly, John C. Calhoun represented the very ideas that the Confederacy championed, states' rights and slavery. Atop that, the enslaved labourers shown hoeing cotton were printed with the intention of signalling to potential foreign investors (particularly Britain under Queen Victoria and France under Napoleon III) that the Confederacy's economy was stable and productive. 

The reason Britain and France did not recognise the Confederate States of America was for a combination of reasons. The primary reason was due to a moral opposition of slavery, as both Britain (1833) and France (1848) had abolished slavery, which became the focal point of the war following Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The Confederacy had believed that the cotton the Europeans relied on would force them to recognise them, however Britain already had vast stockpiles and ultimately replaced the need for Southern Cotton with trade routes to Egypt and India. The French, on the other hand, were more keen to recognise the South to protect their interests in Mexico, which they were occupying at the time, but refused to act on it unless they could secure the assistance of the Royal Navy to defend themselves. Since Britain was similarly hesitant, as they did not want an invasion of Canada or the destruction of its Merchant fleet, and they waited for a decisive Confederate victory to recognise them, but this never surfaced and any serious discussion of British intervention ended after the Union's victory at Antietam. 

These notes are very thin, because they are produced on a special kind of paper called "Rice Paper", which was known for being incredibly thin as the South lacked the ability to produce the superior linen paper which was used in the North. The signatures on the paper were not initially the rust-like brown that they are today. The ink that the Confederacy used on it's currency was iron gall ink, meaning the iron inside of that ink has rusted over the past 160 years. The reason the ink is different to the black prints is due to the fact each bill was hand signed by a clerk at the bottom of the note, indicated above 'For Register' and 'For Treasurer', which was done to prevent counterfeiting. 

These notes were intended to be redeemed "six months after the ratification of a treaty of peace between" (left side) "The Confederate States & The United States of America" (right). Because the Confederacy did lost the war and the government collapsed, this never came to pass and the banknotes became worthless. 

This particular example is in good condition, with no significant damage, however there is a small hole present just below John C. Calhoun's right shoulder, which may be a spindle hole (a hole created by impaling the bill on a sharp spike, known as a spindle, on a shop's counter). The reverse (as seen in the Technical Gallery) of the banknote is blank, however it does have several smudges and remnants of what appears to be a separate sheet of paper, or printing on the reverse, with a prevalent 'w' and 'h' being visible. It is suspected that this letter is an ink transfer from another note. The South often printed and then stacked the notes whilst the ink was fresh (especially in the humid climate that the Southern United States is known for), so ink from one note would be transferred onto the back of another note. The bill was likely folded into a small rectangle based on the crease lined visible on the reverse of the note, especially considering such a bill would have been valued at roughly $3000 today. 

Select References & Further Reading:

• Confederate States Congress' Act of April 17, 1862.

• Memminger, Christopher G. Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, March 14, 1862.

• Criswell, Grover C. Confederate and Southern States Currency.

• Fricke, Pierre. Collecting Confederate Paper Money.

• Foreman, Amanda. Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War.

• Jones, Howard. Blue and Gray Diplomacy: A History of Union and Confederate Foreign Relations.

• Ball, Douglas B. Confederate Interim Depositary Receipts.

• National Museum of American History. National Numismatic Collection.

• Strauss-Schom, Alan. The Shadow Emperor: A Biography of Napoleon III.

Header image: 'Paris Street; Rainy Day', Gustave Caillebotte (1877). Image sourced via Public Domain.