NEW BOOK: ALABAMA OBSOLETE NOTES 1818-1885

As a collector of obsolete paper money, I certainly enjoyed browsing through and participating in this new Alabama book, A Comprehensive Guide to Alabama Obsolete Notes 1818-1885, by Bill Gunther and Charles Derby. The authors have undertaken a complete listing of the currently known paper money from the State of Alabama from 1818 to 1885. This book is designed to be a collector’s guide that lists notes from all cities, counties, and issuers including national notes, state notes, and private scrip from Alabama counties, towns, railroads, and merchants. Cross-over notes involving other states are also represented. The notes are illustrated in vivid color and are listed using a new, easy to understand numbering system that includes many variations of notes based on dates, designs, fonts, and text details. Rarity values using the 1 to 7 scale of Walter Rosene Jr., who wrote the 1984 catalog on Alabama obsolete currency, are updated, and prices are listed in low, high, and average values.

One of the major enjoyments that I have in collecting these notes is researching and learning about the stories of their origins and history. This is a highlight of this book, as it includes such information on many of the notes. This inclusion is not unexpected given that Gunther and Derby are scholars of Alabama and other Southern paper money and frequently publish articles on the subject in the Society of Paper Money Collectors’ magazine, Paper Money.

Gunther and Derby’s book includes a total of over 1500 notes from over 150 cities and over 400 issuers. This is certainly a world of difference from the first attempt to catalogue Alabama paper money over 100 years ago by Alexander Boyd Andrews, who in 1922 listed 27 notes from six cities. This new book even includes notes from over 40 new cities and over 100 new issuers than in Rosene’s catalogue, now 36 years old.

A Comprehensive Guide to Alabama Obsolete Notes 1818-1885 is a great book for any library and I highly recommend this exclusive work to all who have an interest in early paper money and its history.

• Spiral bound, soft cover, 296 pages, 8 1/2 inch by 11 inch size
• Introduction with a history of Alabama paper money
• 1500+ notes from 400+ issuers in 150+ cities and towns
• 600+ new notes from 100+ new issuers in 40+ new cities than listed in Rosene
• Color images of most notes
• Rarities and prices included
• New catalog system with cross referencing to Rosene catalog #s
• Complete table of contents for every city and issuer

To Order

Send $49.95 + postage ($5 domestic, $10 international) to: Charles Derby, 204 Sycamore Ridge Drive, Decatur, GA 30030. For more information, contact charlesderbyga@yahoo.com

About the Authors

William Gunther stumbled across a Bank of Selma $5 note in a coin shop in Brighton, England, while on sabbatical leave from the University of Alabama in 1976. That chance discovery led to over 40 years of collecting and researching these fascinating items. He is a member of the SPMC and ANA and has published articles on paper money in Paper Money and The Numismatist as well as the internet blog of the International Bond & Share Society. He served as a contributing editor on Alabama notes for Don Kelly’s Obsolete Paper Money (2018). His personal Alabama collection has won numerous awards from the Society of Paper Money Collectors. He retired from the University of Alabama as Emeritus Professor of Economics, with over 150 research papers and several books including Economic, Industrial and Managerial Coordination Between Japan and the USA. He was inducted into the Faculty Hall of Fame, Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration, The University of Alabama, in May 2005.

Charles Derby received a scrapbook of Southern paper money collected by his great-grandmother, Essie Lambeth, a North Carolinian who held meetings at her house of the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. From that beginning, his interests in Southern paper money grew. He is a member of the SPMC and ANA and an author of articles on paper money published in Paper Money, North Carolina Numismatic Scrapbook, New England Numismatic Association News, and Georgia Numismatic Association Newsletter. When not research and collecting paper money, he is a Regents’ Professor at Georgia State University, with over 150 papers and a book, Natural History of Crustacea: Nervous Systems and Control of Behavior.

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