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Today I'm pleased to be able to share one of true 'greats' in all of numismatics. The note is the famed 1861 $1000 Confederate States of America T1 note.

This is the highest and only $1000 denomination series to be offered by the confederacy.

Only 607 notes were issued and features images of John C. Calhoun on the left and Andrew Jackson on the right. Notice the hand signatures by Alex B. Clitherall, Register, and E.C. Elmore, Treasurer.

The Confederate States of America was formed February 4, 1861 when the 7 states which had seceded from the Union—South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas—formed a "permanent federal government" whose capital was in Montgomery, Alabama.

They issued their first paper money in April 1861, when the Confederacy was just two months old.

The first four Confederate notes (of $50, $100, $500, and $1000 denomination) were issued from the original Confederate capital of Montgomery, Alabama and they represent the highest quality engraving and printing. Notice the word 'Montgomery' printed on the face of the note which results in the these notes sometimes being referred to as 'Montgomery notes'.

The South had no indigenous printing and engraving industry of its own. Thus its not surprising they looked to New York City for their first order, the center of printing and engraving during this time.Gazaway Lamar, a Georgian entrepreneur living and doing business in N.Y., at the request of Confederate Treasury Secretary Christopher Memminger set up a secret printing contract with the National Bank Note Company of New York. They engraved a plate to print a four-note sheet with one of each denomination: $50, $100, $500, and $1000. The order was placed for 607 sheets and was delivered to Montgomery, Alabama, on April 2, 1861. Interestingly, the delivery took place just a mere 10 days before the Confederate attack of Fort Sumnter, South Carolina April 10, 1861 and the offical start of the war.

A second shipment of notes was confiscated by the North as “contraband of war,” according to Memminger biographer Henry D. Capers.

The loss of the New York Printing facilities was a crushing blow to Secretary Memminger, who now had to seek currency contractors within the Confederacy itself who lacked the expertise on the New York lithographers.

These high denomination notes were interest bearing at a rate of 3.65% per annum. In the case of the $1000 note, this breaks down to 10 cents/day. They were not intended for general circulation. These notes tended to be endorsed on the back when issued and cancelled when redeemed.

In May 1861 the Confederacy decided to relocate the captial to Richmond VA, and future issues of CSA notes reflect Richmond as the centerpoint.

Today about only 100 some odd T1 notes exist and are highly sought after even in the lowest grades. The one I have pictured (property of 08822 and pictured with his permission). is graded PCGS 40 PPQ. Its a note of stunning originality and eye-appeal and is,in fact, the only one to have been graded with the PPQ moniker.