Confederacy’s War Bonds Make Beautiful Decorations
Assuredly, many people have viewed Confederate money. People have seen genuine bills mounted in a Civil War museum, perhaps. Or they’ve at least seen those modern reproductions often found at souvenir stands. Not many, though, have ever seen a Confederate bond, or even know what one is.
Confederate war bonds brought in funds for urgently required food and clothing and other necessities for the South’s troops during the war. They were a primary method for the the government at Richmond to raise funds by borrowing from its citizens. A person would provide money to the southern government and in return receive a bond, a piece of paper containing a written guarantee to repay the bond purchaser–with a certain amount of–beginning on a date in the future.
With the Confederacy’s destruction, most of those hopeful loans never got repaid, of course, and the certificates languished in drawers and trunks for decades.
Nowadays, the bonds that survived these many decades are prized by collectors. And, you can turn around and sell Confederate bonds (along with other types of paper items) on eBay for a pretty decent return.
The Confederacy’s war bonds may be appreciated as decorative art (if framed, they should be mounted using archival materials so as to guard against mishap; glare-free picture-frame glass is also a good idea, even with the additional cost.
The CSA issued a large number and variety of its bonds during its brief time. The bonds appeared with different face values, and varied considerably in their appearance and even in the color of the paper on which they were issued.
Collectors are intrigued by the vignettes, or illustrations, incorporated into the different CSA bonds. Among the ones to be mentioned are an mythological male figure reclining on one elbow, surrounded by maps and a globe; a thundering locomotive with a sailing ship in the background; a a steam paddlebot; a sailor waving a Rebel flag while resting an emblematic cotton; and CSA president himself president Jefferson Davis esconced in a tableau of flags and cannon.
If you also acquire and frame one of these Confederate bonds and put it on display, perhaps in a study or office, you will enjoy gazing at it and admiring its arresting appearance. If you’re like me,, you will undoubtedly find yourself musing over what it must have been like to be alive during that momentous era and during those particular tumultuous years.
Many Confederate bond issues were in fact sold to people in Europe, particularly in Britain, not to the desperately devastated denizens of the South. My Stonewall Jackson bond came from a hoard turned up in England in the 1980s. Such finds come to light occasionally, driving prices downward in the collectibles marketplace, but the dip is usually temporary. Lately I’ve heard that Stonewall Jackson bonds are becoming hard to get hold of, so I’m especially grateful that I was able to get one when I did.
If your interest in Confederate bond certificates extends to more than merely holding on to and admiring their beauty and historic aura, you will discover them to be an excellent entre into what is known as “scripophily.” This is the hobby of collecting old financial certificates, which can include bank instruments, stock certificates, railroad bonds and the like.
If you’re a history enthusiast–or if you’re simply on the lookout for a different sort of “art” with which to decorate your home–learning about Confederate bonds and purchasing a few carefully chosen examples could turn into a captivating yet reasonably affordable pastime. Furthermore,It is also an excellent area to investigate if you cotton to the idea of making money by trading in “paper”–books, magazines, old prints and so forth.
Leave it to an enterprising British woman to become the world’s expert on making money–even earning one’s living–selling pieces of American paper, not only old money and bonds but even pages torn out from old magazines. You can read more about this woman’s surprising eBay paper selling method here.
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