T-70 PF-5 1864 Confederate Paper Money

Description

T-70 PF-5. .00 CSA Currency.
Judah P. Benjamin to the right. Engraved and Printed by Keatinge & Ball. No periods by either plen.
Serial number 59879. Plen G.
Fine, plus, using traditional grading. Small edge tears lower margin, left. Some crispness remains. Probably a PMG or PCGS Very Fine 20 tears.
Genuine.
The T-70 was printed on white paper with an orange-red overprint and does not have a back. It was considered too expensive to print backs on such a low denomination which was losing its value rapidly by this point in the War. The center of the note hosts a large “2”. Judah P. Benjamin, who served as Secretary of the State and War as well as attorney general, is shown at the lower right. This note was payable two years after the ratification of a Treaty of Peace between the Confederate States and United States.
This type comes on quality bank note paper. All of the notes were printed on plain paper. T-70 offers several varieties with periods before or after the plate letters.
T-70s come in four colors: buff, orange, pink and red have been seen and documented.
These were caused by different color ink quality and inking of the overprint stone. The paper of T-70 may have had some effect as well.
This type is common in all grades except Choice/Gem XF, Choice/Gem AU and Choice/Gem Uncirculated and high grade RED.
A note about 3rd party grading. PCGS and PMG do a good job putting a floor on quality within a grade range and have become proficient in detecting repairs (though occasionally they miss something, or see something that is not there, as we all can).
Notes housed in Net or Apparent holders have a wide range of quality from very nice (in rare cases may be nearly choice) to dogs with major problems, so each needs to be evaluated on their own.
However, PMG and PCGS focus on technical grading due to circulation and damage and do not have a mechanism for evaluating condition or eye appeal - whether a note is average, better than average, choice or gem for the grade based on its color, trim and margins. The exception to this are slabbed notes of New or Uncirculated grades to some degree. This is important as Very Fine, Extremely Fine or AU notes can have a wide range of values depending on these factors not reflected in the slab grade. A fully framed Confederate or obsolete note is worth considerably to a lot more than one that is trimmed into the margin for the same grade. Likewise, color is important. These factors can affect the value of a note by 50%, 2-1 or even 3-1, e.g., an AU 58 (PPQ or not) T-20 1861 CSA note trimmed into the margin is worth between 0 and 0. The same grade, AU 58 (PPQ or not), with a full frame and good color/inking is worth something like 0 to 00 depending on eye appeal. I will continue to use the terms plus for above average, choice and gem to mean varying degrees of superiority of condition and eye appeal of a note within a grade as documented in my book which is based on what collectors seek out and pay premiums for.
In coins, we’ve seen the third party graders add things like full bell lines, full head, full bands which reflected the market. I’d expect either the grading services or another party to do the same for paper money. If you are just buying the number on the holder for the best price, you may well be buying low end notes for the grade!
Pierre Fricke.  Immediate Past President of the Society of Paper Money Collectors;  Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG); Professional Currency Dealers Association (PCDA); ANA, EAC, etc...
BuyVintageMoney.
Author of the standard guide book to Confederate money - Collecting Confederate Money Field Edition 2014.
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