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20 Dollars Confederate States Loan
| Issuer | Confederate States of America |
|---|---|
| Year | 1864 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Dollar |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress-printed coupon in black on white paper with a large green "$20" underprint at center. The heading "C. S. LOAN OF 1861." appears at top, flanked by ornamental corner devices. Body text states the obligation to pay Twenty Dollars for six months' interest, due September 1, 1864, on a $500 bond payable at the Confederate Treasury. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain unprinted paper reverse; the obverse text is faintly visible by show-through, with no intentional design or lettering applied to this side. |
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| Comments |
The 1864 series was printed under severe material constraints — the Union blockade had cut off reliable access to quality paper and ink, forcing Confederate printers to use increasingly degraded stock. By this late issue, the currency's purchasing power had collapsed so severely that a $20 note was functionally nearly worthless in daily commerce, with inflation running at thousands of percent annually by war's end.
These notes were never redeemed. The Confederate government's defeat in April 1865 rendered the entire circulating supply worthless overnight, which paradoxically preserved large quantities — holders kept them as souvenirs rather than destroying them.