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15 Cents State of South Carolina
| Issuer | Bank of the State of South Carolina |
|---|---|
| Year | 1863 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | The Bank of the STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 15 15 WILL PAY BEARER ON DEMAND "IN CURRENT FUNDS" FIFTEEN CENTS Feb. 1, 1863. For Cashier. |
| Reverse description | Plain unprinted field with two lines of red letterpress text at centre: the denomination written out and the statutory authority for issue. The reverse shows considerable wear with areas of paper loss and blue ink transfer from the obverse. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of the State of South Carolina — a state-owned institution from its founding in 1812 — issued fractional notes like this 15-cent piece to address the acute small-change shortage that plagued the Confederate states almost from the outset of the war. Federal coin had vanished from circulation almost immediately after secession, hoarded by a public with no faith in paper alternatives, and the void was filled by a chaotic patchwork of municipal, corporate, and state-issued scrip.
South Carolina's fractional issues were printed locally under wartime constraints, which shows. The 15-cent denomination is among the more awkward of the series — a product of necessity arithmetic, not monetary logic.