Wendell Wolka published a short but interesting article in Coin World December 9, 2015 about a printer of Confederate currency.
-Editor
Shortly after the commencement of hostilities in the spring of 1861, the Confederate Department of the Treasury realized that it was
going to have to bring other printers on-line to keep up with the demand for additional Treasury notes.
The first firm used was Hoyer & Ludwig, conveniently located in Richmond, Va., and they initially printed more than 670,000 notes
consisting of five different denominations ranging from $5 to $100.
The war came uncomfortably close to Richmond in the spring of 1862, when the Peninsula Campaign approached the very outskirts of the
city.
In May 1862, nearly two months before Robert E. Lee turned back the Union advances, the Confederate government ordered the printers to
evacuate and relocate their operations to Columbia, S.C. All complied except Hoyer & Ludwig, who refused to leave the city.
Secretary of the Treasury C.G. Memminger, faced with this rather public “disobedience,” felt he had no choice but to strip the company
of its printing contracts and award them to J.T. Paterson & Co., a new firm, politically connected to Vice President Alexander
Stephens.
Hoyer & Ludwig, not being inclined to just give up, served up a proposal to Memminger that offered the department over a 55 percent
savings on printing costs. When Memminger readily accepted the offer, the price reduction did not affect Hoyer & Ludwig because they had no
business. But the other printers’ margins were heavily squeezed because the department enforced the new prices on existing contracts. As a
token of thanks, Memminger gave the company a contract to print a new $10 note, known today as Criswell T-46 in the standard cataloging
system for Confederate notes.
An unusual stipulation was attached, however, that the firm’s name could not appear on the note or any other future notes that the firm
would be allowed to print. Memminger clearly wanted to keep quiet the fact that he was continuing to do business with a firm that had
refused to move.
Ludwig, however, had the last laugh on the T-46 note. If you look very carefully in the foreground beneath the cotton bale on which the
maiden is seated, you can make out LUDWIG in very small letters!
I wasn't aware of this episode before. I can't make out the name on this image, but I'll look for it the next time I come
across one of these notes. Or does someone have a closeup image for us? -Editor
To read the complete article, see:
Confederate bank note
printer has last laugh: Collecting Paper
(www.coinworld.com/news/paper-money/2015/12/Confederate-bank-note-printer-has-last-laugh.html#)
Archives International Auctions, Part XXX
U.S., Chinese & Worldwide Banknotes, Scripophily,
Coins and Security Printing Ephemera
December 11th & 14th, 2015
Click the links! Highlights include:
- Lot
72: Republica De Chile, 1898 Provisional Issue
- Lot 87: National
Bank of the Danish West Indies 1905 Issue
- Lot 242: Banco Nacional
Del Paraguay, 1886 Issue Proof
- Lot
284: United Arab Emirates Currency Board, 1973; Specimen Set
- Lot 393:
All Russian Central Union of Consumer Societies, 1920 Specimen Banknote
- Lot 503:
Bodie Bluff Consolidated Gold Mining Co Stock Certificate
- Lot 674: American
Bank Note Co., "Cincinnati" Business Ad Card.
- Lot 832: FRN, Boston, $5, 1914,
Fr#846, Burke | Houston
- Lot 2046:
Imperial Bank of China, 1898 Peking Branch Taels Issue
- Lot 2074: Bank
of China, 1912 "Mukden - Manchuria" Branch Issue Rarity.
- Lot 2098: Bank
of Communications, 1927 "Hankow" Branch Issue Rarity.
- Lot 2155:
National Bank of China, 1921 Issue - Possible Unlisted Color.
- Lot 2208: Bank of Canton Ltd. 1920
Issue.
- Lot 2316:
Kwang Tung Sat Yip Bank, Swatow ca.1900 Private Banknote.
- Lot 2358: Republik
Indonesia Serikat, 1949 Essay Banknote.
- Lot 2379: Pogrebetsky
Plate Notes from 1929 Banknote Book.
Live Internet Bidding
View the Virtual Catalog
Download the Catalog in PDF format
ARCHIVES INTERNATIONAL AUCTIONS, LLC
1580 Lemoine Avenue, Suite #7
Fort Lee, NJ 07024
Phone: 201-944-4800
Email: info@archivesinternational.com
WWW.ARCHIVESINTERNATIONAL.COM
Wayne Homren, Editor
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.
To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor
at this address: whomren@gmail.com
To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum
Copyright © 1998 - 2020 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)
All Rights Reserved.
NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster
|