Collecting Confederate Paper Money Field Edition 2008

Building on the success of the award-winning Collecting Confederate Paper Money - Comprehensive Edition 2005, Pierre Fricke and R.M. Smythe have collaborated to bring to collectors of Confederate paper money Collecting Confederate Paper Money - Type Edition 2007 (called Type Edition subsequently) which includes a getting started guide as well as a full color grading guide. The Type Edition enables an easy on-ramp into the world of collecting Confederate Paper Money in the 21st century. With an introduction to collecting Confederate paper money, types of collecting, and some financial history of the Confederacy that drove the creation of these notes, the Type Edition provides a foundation to understand the Confederate collecting world. The Type Edition, like the Comprehensive Edition before it, delivers critical real-world grading and pricing guidance based on real transactions to help collectors make informed purchase and sales decisions on the 21st century bourse, on-line and dealer p

I started my numismatic travels in 1969, when my grandmother gave me a box of old coins that I found to be fascinating. By 1973, I was an advanced collector of early American large cents by variety. My first great find was an 1800 Sheldon 198 large cent (a rare variety) in nice Good+ for $12, which I proceeded to sell for a nice profit a few weeks later. Today, that large cent is worth at least $3,000, and is in the condition census.

I earned spending money as a vest pocket dealer in the late 1970s into the 1980s buying and selling US silver dollars and 20th century type coins. It was during the rare coin bust of the early 1980s, I learned about the value of old time, durable collector-oriented grading standards vs. anything goes, market grading standards. Later in the 1980s, after another round with large cents, I moved from early American coppers to bust half dollars. I began publishing a price guide for bust half dollars known as Bust Half Quotes . I sold all of my large cents and bust halves in the mid-1990s to purchase a house in Westchester County, near New York City, when my wife and I moved from Texas.

After doing research into my family history in Louisiana going back to the 1700s, learning more about the history of the early U.S.A and the South in particular, and after attending a few War for Southern Independence (so-called Civil War ) re-enactments, I decided to change my focus from early American coins to Confederate fiscal paper notably Treasury notes and bonds. In particular, beyond my love of history and the South, I was impressed with the depth and opportunity Confederate paper offered the modern collector. I was also recovering from the financial shock of buying New York real estate. The prices of Confederate paper seemed low compared to those in the rapidly-advancing coin market. I decided to begin my own Confederate paper money and bond collection in 2001.

I began building a type collection in 2001, but soon noticed that the much rarer Confederate note varieties seemed grossly undervalued when compared to Federal currency and American coins. Even major rare varieties and errors seemed overlooked while type was in the midst of a speculative boom. Recalling my love of the hunt for the truly rare as well as the desire to build a unique collection, I started adding major rare varieties to my collection when found. At the Gene Mintz sale in 2003, I decided to postpone acquiring the Big Six type notes and focused on building a major variety collection that would become the foundation for the 2005 book as well as this work. I sold my 64 note type set in 2004 through R. M. Smythe and moved forward with more rare varieties as they became available.

When Douglas Ball died in 2003 I knew that he had accumulated a wealth of information about Confederate paper money that was not available to the general collecting public. After securing the rights to Douglas research, I made plans to complete what he had started, a new Confederate paper money guide that would include his work as well as my own and others input.

Douglas Ball s library and research notes contained a great deal of raw material for this book. In addition to a partially developed manuscript, his library included information directly or indirectly from predecessors, correspondents and fellow collectors John Browne, Dr. Philip Chase, Sydney Kerksis, Grover Criswell, John Ford, Arnold Cowan, and others, too numerous to name here. Smythe auction catalogs containing Douglas research, my research (including contact with many people helping them sort out their type and rare varieties) and this other information provided key input and the foundation for the condition census work presented in this book.