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Before the Civil War, the United States used gold and silver coins as its official currency. Paper currency in the form of banknotes was issued by privately owned banks, the notes being redeemable for specie at the bank's office. Such notes had value only if the bank could be counted on to redeem them; if a bank failed, its notes became worthless.
^β Some Modern United States commemorative coins are minted in this denomination. ^γ The United States government claims that it never officially released the 1933 double eagle. Examples of the coin were minted in that year, but were never released to circulation following Executive Order 6102.
The Civil War has been commemorated in many capacities, ranging from the reenactment of battles to statues and memorial halls erected, films, stamps and coins with Civil War themes being issued, all of which helped to shape public memory. These commemorations occurred in greater numbers on the 100th and 150th anniversaries of the war. [308]
Civil War-era coins made big headlines over the summer when a Kentucky man unearthed hundreds of lost gold coins and became about $2 million richer because of it. His discovery, made in a ...
The widespread use of the tokens was a result of the scarcity of government-issued cents during the Civil War. Civil War tokens became illegal after the United States Congress passed a law on April 22, 1864, prohibiting the issue of any one or two-cent coins, tokens or devices for use as currency. On June 8, 1864, an additional law was passed ...
In the Franco-Belgian comic book series Blueberry (volumes "Chihuahua Pearl" through "Ballad for a Coffin"), $500,000 in Confederate gold bullion (being the historical end-of-war Confederate treasury as well) was smuggled to Mexico by a group of Confederate soldiers led by Colonel Trevor, the latter acting under orders from Confederate ...
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. As the Civil War progressed and victory for the South seemed less and less likely, its value declined. After the Confederacy's defeat, its money had no value, and individuals and banks lost large sums.
A copper shortage during World War II prompted the U.S. Mint to switch the one-cent penny to a steel composition that was coated in zinc, according to Gainesville Coins.