It was not backed by hard assets, but simply by a promise to pay the bearer after the war, on the prospect of Southern victory and independence.

The various engravings of leading Confederates, gods and goddesses, trains, ships, and slaves on these hastily printed banknotes, sometimes cut with scissors and signed by clerks, continue to stimulate debate among antique dealers, with even some of the counterfeit notes commanding high prices.

The Confederate dollar, often called a "Greyback", was first issued into circulation in April 1861, when the Confederacy was only two months old, and on the eve of the outbreak of the Civil War.

As the war progressed, confidence in the ultimate success waned, the amount of paper money increased, and their dates of redemption were extended further into the future.

have suggested that the currency would have retained a relatively material degree of value, and for a longer period of time, had it been backed by hard goods the Confederacy did have, such as cotton or tobacco.

The Confederacy, being limited in skilled engravers and printers as well as secure printing facilities, often had to make do with unrelated designs in early banknote issues.

Since most engravers and bank plates were in the Northern states, Confederate printers used offset or lithographic process to copy scenes that had been used on whatever notes they had access to.

Many variations in plates, printing and papers also appear in most of the issues, due in large part to the limits on commerce resulting from the Union blockade and the inadequate Confederate railroads in the American Civil War.

People featured on banknotes include Andrew Jackson, John C. Calhoun, Christopher Memminger, Robert M. T. Hunter, Alexander H. Stephens, Jefferson Davis, Judah P. Benjamin, Clement Clay, George W. Randolph, and Lucy Holcombe Pickens, the wife of the Governor of South Carolina.

[14] Confederate Treasury Notes were hand signed by various clerks, with exception of the 50 cent issues that had the printed signatures of Robert Tyler and Edward C. Elmore.

While hand signatures were considered an anti-counterfeiting tool, the sheer number of bills being produced could not reasonably be signed individually by two men each.

Any precious metals available in the South often made their way to Europe to procure war goods, but the CSA did manage to mint a few coins.

In the aftermath of secession, the Confederacy seized U.S. Mint facilities at Charlotte, North Carolina, Dahlonega, Georgia, and New Orleans, Louisiana.

After seizing and appropriating the bullion reserves stored at the facilities, the Confederate Treasury, led by C. G. Memminger, determined that the cost of minting coins far outweighed the benefits.

Scott bought 500 1861 United States half dollars from a New York bank that were supposedly struck at the New Orleans Mint.

Confederate Treasury Notes (banknotes) were ultimately issued in 50¢, $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, and $1,000 denominations with a variety of designs, issuers, and redeemable obligations.