Week 611 NumismaQuest time!

[Jennifer F.]

 

Q: What was the name of the largest and most notorious group of Confederate money counterfeiters?

 

 

Our first place winner will receive a coupon for 1 note graded under the Standard grading tier. (You must have an active account with PMG,call PMG for details) There will also be a runner up prize given to someone with the correct answer.

 

REMINDER: The Numisma-Quest ends on Saturday at midnight EST. Entries after that time will not be valid. See the Trivia info post for more details.

 

Good luck to everyone and have a great weekend!

 

[mycoincollection-migration]

Samuel C. Upham.

[mycoincollection-migration]

Samuel C. Upham.

[Coindude]

Samuel C. Upham aka the "Yankee Scoundrel".

[SamD]

The general opinion out there is that SAMUEL CURTIS UPHAM was the largest counterfeiter of gray-backs. (There were others as well -- Winthrop Hilton and the Havana Rebel Note outfit are just two of them).

 

Up to 2% of all gray-backs were Upham counterfeits. Wow.

 

[dan8402]

Samuel Upham?

[mattcorbett2010]

"In March 1862, an unusual ad began appearing in Northern newspapers. Among the shops selling pianos and patent medicines, sheet music and sewing machines, this one stood out: it promised “perfect fac-similes” of Confederate currency. There were seven kinds of notes for sale, and testimonials from The New York Tribune and others praising the replicas for their high quality and low prices. Five cents bought you one. Two dollars bought a hundred. Fifteen dollars bought a thousand. The word “counterfeits” never appeared. These were “Mementos of the Rebellion,” sold by a Philadelphia shopkeeper named Samuel Curtis Upham. Over the next 18 months he built the most notorious counterfeiting enterprise of the Civil War — one that also happened to be perfectly legal. His forgeries flooded the South, undermining the value of the Confederate dollar and provoking enraged responses from Southern leaders. He waged war on the enemy’s currency, serving his pocketbook and his country at the same time."

[MercuryMan]

Havana Notes

[Jennifer F.]

Q: What was the largest and most notorious group of Confederate money counterfeiters?

 

A: The Payne Gang

 

Thanks to everyone who participated this week and better luck next time!