250 Years of Currency in our Pocket

Published Apr 17, 2026 by
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Housed within the walls of Joyner Library’s Special Collections in the Sallie Joyner Davis Collection is a collection of currency from some of the most turbulent times of our nation’s history. Instead of the plastic cards or tap–to–pay systems we use today, these bills tell the story of the nation’s founding and its struggle for independence.

During the 18th century, the colonies faced a challenge: How could they pay for a war against the United Kingdom? At this time, there was no federally centralized bank, so individual colonies issued their own currency to fund this fight.

North Carolina addressed this problem in the state’s first capital, New Bern. James Davis most likely printed the first of these new shilling and dollar bills. Davis created one of the first printshops in the colony and, in addition to currency, printed books and newspapers. To protect the value of this new money, Davis and other currency printers used intricate, decorative borders as an early measure to prevent counterfeiting. While innovative for the eighteenth century, these designs are a far cry from the watermarks, color-shifting inks, and security threads we find in our wallets today.

 

Above items from the Sallie Joyner Davis Collection (#133), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.

 

As the war progressed, the Continental Congress began printing its own “Continental Currency.” These bills flooded the market and were not backed by silver or gold, depleting their value and giving rise to the saying “Not worth a Continental.” Eighty years after the Revolution, the nation again went to war, this time against itself. With the nation now divided into the Confederacy and Union, new bills would need to be created. The Confederacy tackled this issue with the creation of its own currency, often called “graybacks,” named after the gray uniforms of its soldiers. One significant development was the increased use of paper notes in place of coinage. This was due to the copper and silver used to make these coins being more valuable than the coins’ face value. These bills acted as IOUs of sorts; they were not backed by a central bank’s gold reserves. Instead, they were promised payment only if the Confederacy won the war. Early in the conflict, the notes featured a written statement promising that the Confederate States of America would pay out six months after a treaty of peace was signed. As the war dragged on and the prospect of victory grew dim, that timeline was pushed back to two years.

Above items from the Sallie Joyner Davis Collection (#133), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.

As the war turned against the South, the value of these bills plummeted while prices for basic goods soared. By 1864, these graybacks became worthless, with one Confederate dollar holding the buying power of just three Union cents. When the Confederacy finally surrendered in 1865, the currency lost all remaining value, leaving many Southerners with nothing but scraps of paper.

Each note holds a story within the fragile fibers of the paper. Within each fold and tear, the tales of people living in some of the most turbulent times in our country’s early life are held. The nation’s currency and bills might change, but their worth is more than what they are “worth” on paper; they are the enduring artifacts of the American Dream.

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