What is a Confederate bill?

Answer 1

"Confederate bill" or "Confederate paper money" is a generic term for any of the many different banknotes issued by various jurisdictions of the Confederate States of America during the US Civil War.

The CSA wasn't able to establish a successful central banking system so much of its paper money was issued by individual states and private banks. Most of the money had neither physical backing (precious metals) nor psychological support (e.g. "the full faith and credit of the government") leading to inflation and numerous reissues.

While they have no purchasing power today, genuine Confederate bills are of great interest to collectors. Unfortunately determining values can be challenging for two reasons. First, there were large numbers of different varieties of bills, which complicates determining market values. More seriously, many Confederate bills were counterfeited during the war and huge numbers of replicas were later printed as curiosities for sale as Civil War-themed novelties. Any apparent Confederate bill has to be examined in person by an expert before it can be valued.