This is a quick start list of things to do when beginning collecting Confederate Paper Money
1. Buy Books
- Collecting Confederate Paper Money - Field Edition 2008. By Pierre Fricke. This is the book for the 21st century. See http://www.csaquotes.com/csabooks.html . This is best for the beginner looking to understand today's market and is a must if you want to be on top of the latest in grading, varieties, pricing and collecting trends. It has lots of information designed to help collectors advance from beginner to expert.
- Collecting Confederate Paper Money - Comprehensive Edition 2005. By Pierre Fricke. Out of print. This is the "bible". Detailed, but also provides basic information. Includes rarity condition census. A superset of the Field Edition. See http://www.csaquotes.com/csabooks.html .
- A Guide Book of Counterfeit Confederate Currency. By George Tremmel. Published by Whitman. This book will help you identify countemporary counterfeits that circulated along with the genuine Treasury notes.
There are other books worth owning. Grover Criswell's 1996 book and others are good for historical references.
I want to make a note of the following book which was just updated by F-W Publications.
- Confederate States Paper Money by Arlie Slabaugh 11th Edition (2008). This book was a good book for beginners in the past, however, F-W publications rushed this to print resulting in numerous pricing and picture errors. I had helped them with information, but was never given a change to proofread or review a final draft. I cannot recommend this book as I would have liked to.
4. Learn to grade. See Collecting Confederate Paper Money books for the best advice on this. Also talk with dealers and collectors. You'll get some different views and you'll understand the landscape better. Basically, I use these high level guidelines: Uncirculated (Unc) - No folds, damage, stains, possibly trimmed into the margin, but not distractingly so. About Uncirculated (AU) - One cross body fold or corner fold (AU+ for the latter). "Teller" counting handling tolerated. No problems as with Unc. Extremely or Extra Fine (EF or XF) - No more than three cross body folds and perhaps a subtle corner fold or two. Trivial handling may be tolerated. No problems as with Unc. Very Fine (VF) - No more than eight cross body folds, a corner fold or two and some minor handling. Almost all crispness or body remains except at the folds. Fine (F) - Too many folds to count and a lot of circulation handling. Some of the crispness or body of the paper remains. Some dirt may be present. Minor stains OK. Very Good (VG) - No crispness remains. Limp. Edges show a good amount of circulation and tiny tears. Dirty. Some stains possible, but not major. Good (G) - Note is mostly intact, but may have tears into the body and edge damage. Stains and discoloration are usually present.
Grading qualifiers include - Choice (full frame line, well above average); Average; and Impaired (Problems inconsistent with the grade).
6. Start slowly. Buy a number of common 1863 or 1864 notes and become familiar with the look, feel, grading of genuine notes. Also consider buying some inexpensive 1861 notes such as T-18, T-20 and T-36. These notes are inexpensive and are the right place to make your "mistakes" and pay your "tuition". Buying a repaired Montgomery note that is priced as original is a much more expensive "school" to learn in.