Author: Confederate cash making a comeback
07/12/2012
A number of works describing the final days of the Confederacy describe war-torn Richmond after the Southern army and government had pulled out, with the city gutted by fire and literally millions of dollars in Confederate currency blowing through the streets.
Indeed, for decades after the war, Confederate currency was easy to come by and inexpensive. Even today, while the bills are prized by collectors and can therefore be pricey,they’re by no means rare.
That would be because between 1861 and 1865 the Southern government issued an astounding $1.5 billion in notes, according to a South Carolina author who has written a new reference book titled Collecting Confederate Currency: Hobby and Investment.
J. Wayne Hilton has collected and studied the widely varied bills of the Confederacy since the early 1970s, according to the Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle.
To say Confederate money was easy to come by in the years following the war is an understatement.
At one time, Confederate currency was so abundant that huge amounts of it were used as insulation in homes built after the war, according to Hilton.
