The Bank of the State of South Carolina Two Dollar Note

The Bank of the State of South Carolina Two Dollar Note - Inventory Number: CUR 141

S-556 This $2.00 note features an image of the New State House in the center which was under construction during the war. In the lower left is a portrait of Franklin Elmore, antebellum U.S. Senator, president of the Bank of the State of South Carolina and political ally of John C. Calhoun. In the lower right is a portrait of Calhoun. A red TWO is printed on the front and reverse. The original printers' names, Bald, Adams, & Co. and Bald, Cousland, & Co., are printed along the bottom. To the left of the main image is the imprint ABC indicating the note was printed following the consolidation of numerous currency printers into the American Bank Note Company in 1858.

Original South Carolina Currency Deaccessioned by the State.  S-478 This $0.25 fractional note features a gamecock in the center. The date of July 1, 1861 is printed on the note. No printer name is shown. These notes were printed on the reverse of other currency and bonds.

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 141