$5 1853 Obsolete Farmers & Exchange Bank Charleston SC

a FORERUNNER to the MONEY in YOUR POCKET

à    Long before the United States government officially issued paper currency in 1861 with the introduction of Demand Notes, paper mediums of exchange existed.  Among these were privately-issued and State-issued bank and scrip notes which typically circulated in a narrow radius from their point of release. These carried denominations from one-half cent to several thousand dollars.

Although the term ‘OBSOLETE’ refers to any form of paper money which has been outdated—and oftentimes extricated from circulation—collectors consider ‘OBSOLETE’ banknotes to be those issued by private banks, individuals, towns, or States.  Nothing “backed” the banknotes and, in the era before rapid communication, bearers of these notes often held worthless pieces of paper after the issuing bank failed or went broke—hence the secondly most applied designation ‘BROKEN BANK NOTE.’