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5 Dollars Bank of the State of South Carolina
| Issuer | Bank of the State of South Carolina |
|---|---|
| Year | 1861 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is arranged with numeral 5 counters at all four corners within circular guilloche frames. At center left, a portrait vignette of General Francis Marion (the 'Swamp Fox') is paired with a large central intaglio vignette of the celebrated breakfast scene, in which General Marion invites a British officer to share a meal of sweet potatoes roasting over an open fire — a celebrated episode of the Revolutionary War rendered in fine line engraving. A second portrait of General Marion appears at right, and a large red letterpress overprint reading FIVE occupies the lower center of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse carries a pale blue-grey guilloche underprint across the full field, with two large open circular counters at left and right center. The lower portion bears a bold red letterpress FIVE in ornate mirror-image gothic script, printed in reverse as an anti-counterfeiting device. |
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| Comments |
The printer credit here is a relic. Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson had already merged into the American Bank Note Company by 1858, meaning the plates used for this 1861 issue were engraved under a firm that no longer existed at the time of printing — ABNCo completed the work using inherited tooling. The Bank of the State of South Carolina was a state-owned institution, unusual among antebellum banks, and continued issuing notes after secession despite the obvious complications of sourcing security printing from a New York firm now in a foreign country.