THE LEGACY OF RAPHAEL THIAN

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V15 2012 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 15, Number 2, January 8, 2012, Article 11

Fred Reed's recent column in the Bank Note Reporter continue his examination of the life and work of Raphael P. Thian and his importance in the study and collecting of Confederate currency today. I wish I knew where to start and stop excerpting; I've just included a short snippet here, so be sure to read the whole thing online at Numismaster.com. -Editor

Today Raphael Prosper Thian (April 5, 1830-Dec. 19, 1911), CSA note and bond collector, cataloger, dealer, archivist and recorder, Confederate Treasury document compiler, and unofficial Rebel Archives note custodian, stands in the front rank of contributors to the course of CSA paper money collecting.

Thian's place in the pantheon of CSA currency "heroes" was much less prominent or secure, however, when he died a little over a century ago.

At the time of his death Thian's most significant contribution to the evolution of Confederate note collecting was the collectors album he made and sold. Thirty-five years earlier, Thian had produced the first commercial album for collectors of CSA currency with pre-determined spaces to fill. This gives us a sense that by 1876, when Thian released his album, the Confederate paper money hobby was maturing a bit. Soon he had a more aggressive competitor in dealer C.H. Bechtel's Album for Confederate Currency (1877).

Thian's Confederate Note Album for a Complete Collection (with descriptive letter-press) of the various designs for face and back selected by the Confederate Treasury Authorities for the Currency of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865, was privately published by its author in the year of the U.S. Centennial. The album had spaces for mounting notes from the Montgomery $1,000 down. It's importance should not be underestimated.

Thian's albums are known in three sizes, but readers should not be confused about what I am referring to here. I am talking about Thian's “retail” albums, comprised of 44 leaves/88 pages, which were (presumably) sold both with some/many notes in place, or blank for do-it-yourselfers.

Regarding these "retail" albums, Thian published and and sold a small quantity (one estimate is 25) filled with notes, and also sold an unknown quantity of these "retail" small albums without notes to collectors, who desired to build their own "complete" sets of Rebel notes.

I am not talking about the various presentation albums of approximately 200+ leaves/400+ pages, nor the monster master albums he compiled for his own purposes with up to 320 or more leaves/640 pages. The presentation albums were prepared at various times for dignitaries, sometimes titled on their covers more simply The Currency of the Confederate States.