Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
25 Cents - Corporation of Charlestown Charlestown, Virginia
| Issuer | Corporation of Charlestown |
|---|---|
| Year | 1861 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 25 Cents (0.25) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Horizontal format with three denomination numerals "25" across the field; left circular vignette contains the numeral 25, right circular vignette bears an impression of a 25-cent quarter dollar coin. Decorative horizontal guilloche border motifs flank both left and right margins. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse unprinted; plain paper showing age toning, fold lines, and surface wear consistent with circulation. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Charlestown, Virginia in 1861 was the county seat of Jefferson County — the same town where John Brown had been tried and hanged just two years earlier, in December 1859. When Virginia seceded in April 1861, Jefferson County initially went with it, and scrip like this was issued under Confederate-aligned municipal authority. The county was later carved into West Virginia in 1863, creating a retroactive legal ambiguity about the legitimacy of notes issued during the interim period.
Murphy of Baltimore printed the note while Maryland itself teetered on the edge of secession — a border-state printer serving a border-state town in the most uncertain year of the war.