10 Dollars Merchants and Planters Bank - Georgia

The Merchants and Planters Bank of Savannah operated during a period when Georgia's coastal cotton economy was generating the kind of capital that demanded credible paper instruments. Baldwin, Bald & Cousland — a New York security printing firm active only briefly under that name before reorganizing as the American Bank Note Company in 1858 — produced a considerable volume of Southern state bank currency during their short run, and their engraving quality was among the better work available to American issuers in the mid-1850s.

Georgia's free banking framework meant that note-issuing authority was tied directly to specie reserves, a requirement honored unevenly in practice. Savannah banks in particular came under scrutiny during the credit contractions of 1857.