The Bank of the State of South Carolina Five Dollar Note

The Bank of the State of South Carolina Five Dollar Note - Inventory Number: CUR 158

S-573 This $5.00 note features the iconic image of General Francis Marion offering a British officer a dinner of sweet potatoes. The image on the note is based on the painting "General Marion Inviting a British Officer to Share his Meal" by John Blake White (about 1836) and a subsequent popular engraving by John Sartain (1840).

Versions of the painting hang in the U.S. Senate and the S.C. State House. A portrait of General Francis Marion is at the lower right corner and a portrait of General Thomas Sumter is at lower left. The printer's name, American Bank Note Company is centered at the bottom of the note. This note is primarily printed with green ink.

Authentic cancelled note redeemed by the state in 1880.  Deaccessioned from the collection of the South Carolina Department of Archives and History under a provision of the General Assembly.  Accompanied by history on its discovery.

Authentic Bank Notes of The Bank of the State of South Carolina

Chartered on 19 December 1812 by Act 2021 of the General Assembly and capitalized with the assets of the state treasury, the Bank of the State of South Carolina provided a stable currency for the state through much of the bank's fifty six year history. Ruined by the general economic collapse at the end of the Civil War, the bank was formally closed by Act 17 of the General Assembly passed on

15 September 1868. The act closing the bank provided that notes issued before December 20, 1860, were considered legitimate obligations of the state government and to be exchanged for twenty year state bonds. Over $1.1 million dollars in pre-secession currency were turned in and destroyed by October of 1869.

Currency issued after secession were worthless until the post-Reconstruction legislature passed an Act 135 on 24 December 1879 that provided that any outstanding bank notes could be exchanged for consolidated bonds at 50% value.

Over $770,000 in bank notes were turned in between the beginning of 1880 and July 1, 1881. The notes were counted, cancelled by a metal punch, certified and bundle. Although the currency was to be destroyed, charges of fraud and subsequent investigations put that on hold and the notes were stored in the basement of the State House and forgotten until 1961 when the notes were transferred to the Department of Archives and History.

Act 242 passed in 2008 allows the Department of Archives and History to sell by public auction duplicate material that has market value, falls outside the scope of our collection policy and has no further research value. Proviso 28.3 in 2012-2013

The notes are categorized by the numbering system set forth in South Carolina Obsolete Notes and Scrip by Austin M. Sheheen, Jr. All notes have been humidified, flattened and placed in protective mylar sleeves. The availability of specific notes may vary. We have several bank notes, the note pictured above is a representative example, upon order we will select and ship you a very nice comparable bill.

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Inventory Number:  CUR 158