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Old Paper Money – Fragile Survivors, Strong StoriesGetting into old paper money is a common side effect of coin collecting.The coin collector often skips over stamps as insubstantial. Coins have weight, and… a serious purpose. They’re money after all. And besides, they’re heavy, metallic, and old! So how is it that so many coin collectors have, along with their coins, a stash of antique paper money? Isn't old paper money as vulnerable to the ravages of time as any stamp collection? Where’s the value? Take a look at the tattered Confederate dollar bill at the top of the page. This is collectible? Sure it is. Here’s why it’s in my collection: First, it’s a historical object that looks the part. This note circulated at a time of civil war – issued by (what was to be) the losing side. Not carefully added to a fine collection, preserved for posterity, or even saved as a bookmark, this old paper money could easily have been carried into battle, if not to victory. Then too, it bears the image of a coin – a Spanish piece of eight, no less. A nostalgic reference to America’s colonial past? Strange in the context of a rebellious nation… Finally… and this to me is the best part... something I just found out, though I’ve had this old paper money for decades… it may be COUNTERFEIT! The best part?Reading up on this particular issue of old paper currency, I ran into Samuel Upham. Not “Honest Sam Upham” – that was his hard-working, church-going father, back in Vermont. The son of Sam, so to speak, lived his life in a 19th century fast lane. He didn’t become a farmer as his father had wished. Instead he…headed for New York and became a clerk, joined the Navy -- but didn’t see the world, mustered out, married, and started a family, became a bookkeeper in Philadelphia, became bored, left, and sailed away to Rio De Janeiro, then on to San Francisco to try his luck in the California gold fields of 1849. Didn’t make it as a gold miner. Did make it as a journalist – started the Sacramento Transcript newspaper… sold out and returned to Philadelphia, where he… rejoined his family, and started a stationery store. Then Sam got into… well… Collectible Paper Money - Get your Confederate mementos here!The Civil War was on. Sam had been selling novelties in his shop relating in a humorous way to the events of the day, spun to the Northern point of view.Sam saw an illustrated article in The Philadelphia Inquirer describing the Confederacy’s new currency. This was a big deal. What we think of now as old paper money was a real novelty in 1862. Seeing a graphic representation of a Confederate five dollar bill Sam put on his newspaperman hat and got permission from the paper to reproduce the illustrated bill in a highly accurate manner. Another novelty for the shop! To be fair, Sam properly represented each as a “fac-simile”. This was all well and good, but... it got even better.It seems that cotton smugglers found they could pass Upham’s notes in the South after trimming off the “fac-simile” disclaimer.At the same time, Secretary of War Stanton became interested in counterfeiting as a way to erode the rebel economy. There are hints that a Stanton agent cleared the way for Sam Upham to acquire currency grade paper, and encouraged him to expand his product line. It has also been suggested that Sam’s currency marketing accounted for nearly one percent of circulating Confederate currency by war’s end. Bottom line? Sam was good at making money… good looking money!Continue here for more about paper money of the Civil War... Would a paper 3-cent bill have been convenient? Go to Top of old paper money page Go to Home page...
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