Have you ever seen a Confederate States of America bond?
Confederate war bonds raised money for desperately required food and clothing and other necessities for southern soldiers in the course of the war. They constituted a primary method for the the Rebel leadership to raise funds by getting its citizens and others to lend to it. A person would lend money to the southern government and in return receive one of these bonds, a piece of paper containing a written promise to pay back the bond purchaser–along with interest–beginning on a date in the future.
As history attests, the vast number the people who tied up money in support of the secessionist cause never saw a single penny back. As a result the people placed those Confederate war bonds away in a drawer or in a box in the closet, never bothering to try to cash in the attached coupons, which were now made worthless by the South’s defeat.
Today, though, those Confederate bonds are prized collector’s items. And, you can turn around and sell Confederate bonds (and other paper collectibles) on eBay for some extra spending money.
The southern nation’s bonds can be appreciated as decorative items (if framed, they should be matted using archival type material to avoid mishandling; reflectionless glass is also a good measure to take, even with the additional cost.
The Confederacy had printed a number of different issues of bonds throughout the course of the conflict. For every issue, various “denominations” (meaning the bond’s face value) were printed. These all had different decorations, and often even different pape colors, to distinguish them from one another.
From an age in which even a common bank certificate could be an exercise in extreme ornamentation, CSA bonds abounded in flourishes, including such scenes as fields and cities, fictional figures, and, of course, generals and other southern heroes.
If you decide to frame one of these Confederate bond certificates and put it on display, possibly in a study or office, you will enjoy gazing at it and studying it for its arresting appearance. If you’re like me,, you will surely find yourself imagining what it must have been like to live during that momentous era and during those particular war-torn years.
Many Confederate bond issues were in fact sold to people in Europe, particularly in Britain, and not to the increasingly impoverished inhabitants of the Confederacy. My “Stonewall” bond was found in a hoard discovered in England in the 1980s. These sorts of hoards come to light occasionally, pushing prices downward in the paper collectibles market, but the situation is usually not long lasting. Of late word come that Stonewall Jackson bonds are becoming difficult to come across, so I’m particularly glad that I was able to acquire one at the time I did.
Buying and selling southern war bonds has become a big activity within the hobby of scripophily, which refers to collecting old financial instruments (including stock certificates, bank notes and railroad bonds, for example) for their historical and artistic value.
If you’re a history enthusiast–or if you’re simply looking for a different sort of “art” with which to cover your walls–learning about Confederate bonds and purchasing a few carefully chosen examples could transform itself into a fund and affordable pastime. As well,It is also a great area to investigate if you cotton to the idea of bringing in money by trading in “paper”–books, magazines, antique prints and so forth.
Now, leave it to an enterprising English woman to become the world’s expert on making good money–even earning a living–selling pieces of American paper, not only old currency and bonds but even pages torn out from old magazines. You can discover more about this woman’s surprising eBay paper selling method here.
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