19TH CENTURY US MONEY EXAMPLES

Close-up examples of United States and Confederate States coins and currency of the 19th century.

Here is a US half cent. Half cents were minted from 1793 to 1857. They were far larger in diameter and much thicker than today's quarter. A bunch of these in one's pocket must have really felt like something, yet equalled only a few pennies!

Apparently half cents and pennies were not enough types to make change, so from 1864 to 1873 the United States mint also coined 'two cent' coins. The two cent piece was the first US coin to carry the motto "In God We Trust". The strife of Civil War had turned the nation, including Congress, to God. This sentiment carried over to the coinage, despite the Constitutional separation of church and state. Some would say this is not unlike how the events of September 11, 2001 brought on the Patriot Act, another relaxation of the Constitution. Can you see the worn motto in the left photo?

A little known fact is that the 'nickel' is a relative newcomer. It was a harder, more difficult metal to press than gold, silver or copper, and near worthless as base metal. But eventually toward the end of the Civil War, precious metal hoarding caused the mint to turn to base metal coinage. Thus, the nickel three and five cent pieces were born, eventually phasing out the same denominations previously made of silver. Of course, you would not have called a silver five cent piece a 'nickel'. But what would you call it? How about a half dime. Here is a half dime dated 1870.

Of course this 19th century money preview would not be complete with merely small change. Show me the (real) money! Alright, there was paper money aplenty back then, but coins were preferred. Periodic bank panics had left paper money bearers 'holding the bag', but when people hoarded their hard money during hard times, sometimes paper was all you could get outside of barter. Here is a genuine Confederate States 50 cent note.

... and here are modern replicas of notes issued by the States of Arkansas, North Carolina, and Virginia.

confederate dollars money arkansas carolina virginia