Many of the second and third issue fractional currency proofs as well as some of the regular issue fractional currency notes are printed on paper watermarked "CSA." How did this paper, the same type that had previously been used by Keating and Ball to print $10 Confederate notes in 1861 and $100 notes in 1862 come to the BEP. The story begins at high tide on September 28, 1861, a dark and moonless night. A steamship, the "BERMUDA," neared the darkened coast of Savannah, Georgia.

Late last summer I embarked on a long day trip for the purpose of enjoying the country and making a few finds along the way. One stop took me to a Midwest coin shop that I had not visited before. Among the large type in the currency inventory I spotted a 1914 $10 Federal Reserve Note from the St. Louis district (Fr. 932) that had an odd look to it.

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States was born on February 12, 1809 in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm in Hardin County. He was the second child of Nancy and Thomas Lincoln. In 1830, his family moved to Macon County, Illinois. Lincoln had two love interests before meeting his future wife Mary Todd. His first, Ann Rutledge died of typhoid fever in 1835. He next courted Mary Owens of Kentucky but did not marry her. He met Mary Todd in December 1839 in Springfield, Missouri and they married on November 4, 1842.

I attended the William H. Kelly Confederate paper money sale held in conjunction with the FUN show in Orlando. Heritage auctions conducted the sale on Thursday night, January 5, 2012. We (my wife and I) arrived in Orlando Sunday, New Year’s Day to stay with a long time friend and get a jump on viewing many lots in this sale. Heading to Florida during the winter is always a well anticipated event, especially to see these friends and visit this FUN show.

January 15, 2012, a date soon to be upon us is actually a very important date. It is the 150th anniversary of the date that President Abraham Lincoln appointed Edwin McMasters Stanton to be his Secretary of war. Stanton replaced Simon Cameron who was dismissed by Lincoln for including in his yearly report the call of freed slaves to be armed and used against the Confederate Army. Stanton was Lincoln's closest adviser during the Civil War. Lincoln described Stanton as “the rock on the beach of our national ocean against which the breakers dash and roar, dash and roar without ceasing.