This counterfeit $20 bill features a central engraving of a woman riding on the back of a deer. Sometimes referred to as The Goddess of the Hunt. Printed in black with orange highlights on the face and with green details on the reverse. Serial number 74290. Wrinkling and two pin holes otherwise a nice specimen.

S.C. Upham was a shopkeeper from Philadelphia who sold wholesale counterfeit Confederate notes as “mementos of the Rebellion” – his most famous being the “Female Riding Deer notes” (FRD).

The FRD notes circulated during the Civil War and were produced from 1862-63. In that period Upham claimed to have produced over 1.5 million Confederate counterfeits in denominations from 5 cents to $100. People started buying up his stock of novelty notes (at 5 cents apiece) and trimming off his imprint of “Facsimile Confederate Note – Sold wholesale and retail by S.C. Upham” and passing them off as genuine issues in the South. Estimates range that he was responsible for 1%-3% of the Confederate States’ total money supply.

History maintains that Upham openly advertised and bragged about his counterfeiting venture and the Confederate bounty on his head.

What started as a novelty operation quickly exploded into a full-fledged wartime counterfeiting operation that began to, intentionally or unintentionally, destabilize the Confederate economy and drew attention from both governments. S.C. Upham, a purveyor of stationery and perfume, through his bogus note campaign became one of the most interesting numismatic characters to emerge from the 19th century. [jet]

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