I had no idea just how many different Confederate fakes, facsimiles, copies, and reproductions existed. The Confederate Treasury Company alone offers a complete album of seventy-one Confederate reproductions in one fell swoop. "There", you might say, "put the album on the shelf, and go on to collect something more alluring, such as bottle caps. You've covered all the bases."
Unfortunately, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Since this particular group of Cofederate reproductions can only be purchased as a set, few are ever offered on the Internet as single notes. Besides, the people at the Confederate Treasury Company, in their wisdom, have printed the word "Reprint" on the back of every note, in compliance with the Hobby Protection Act. Well, almost.
The Hobby Protection Act of 1998 states: A imitation numismatic item which is manufactured in the United States, or imported into the United States for introduction into or distribution in commerce, shall be plainly and permanently marked "COPY'.
Unfortionately, many Confederate facsimile notes do not comply with the Hobby Protection Act, many of them having been printed in the 1950s and 1960s. Others modern notes don't comply because, well, who cares? The Federal Trade Commission is in charge of inforcing the Hobby Protection Act, and let's face it, they have bigger fish to fry. Besides, to add insult to injury, Confederate currency is considered to be foreign currency!
Perhaps the worst offenders are the "parchment" paper copies printed by the Historical Document Company of Philadelphia. They have been around since at least the early 1960s. There are 12 different sets including Confederate currency, state currency, Union currency, and Colonial currency. Perhaps the most infamous are the notes at the left, the 1864 $500 Jackson #16760 and the 1861 $1000 John C. Calhoun/ Andrew Jackson #297.
There is no reason to believe that any American currencies was ever printed on parchment paper, so will someone explain to me why there is so much of this stuff being sold on the Internet, some for good money? If it is made from parchment paper, it is a fake!
Whitman Publishing started printing a set of six Confederate notes around 1960. The company went out of business in the 1980s. However, I have seen other examples of Whitman money that were definitely not issued by them. The backs of these notes are bogus and unique.
Bogus and unique also describes the backs of the TOPPS Chewing Gum notes first issued around 1962, and later in 1964 by A&BC Chewing Gum Ltd. of England. There are 17 in this series. These notes measure only 2.5 inches by 5.5 inches, a bit smaller than a modern US dollar.
Cheerios Premium money was issued in 1954. For 25 cents and a Cheerios box top you received nine notes and an album. Cheerios is probably the best of all the older reproductions. Cheerios claims to have issued more Confederate currency then the Confederacy. I suppose the same could be said for Whitman Publishing Co., and the Historical Document Company.
OK, from here on it begins to get complicated. We have contemporary counterfeits, older notes known as Fac-similes, modern computer generated immages and photo copies, as well as many reproduction used as advertisment notes, the origin of most is vague to say the least.
So where do we go from here? Serial numbers. Most real Confederate notes were printed on sheets of eight notes. The serial numbers were all the same, but the plate letters ranged from "A" to "H". Since most reproductions have the same serial numbers as well as the same plate numbers, once you know the serial numbers you can determine if it is real or a facsimile. Of course, for many facsimiles there was once a real note to copy, but what are the odds that this note is that note? OK, so the next logical thing is to come up with a list of serial numbers:
