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The Richest Man in Confederate Money
 | By Fred L. Reed III, Coins Magazine
September 28, 2009 |
For the last generation or so the Confederate currency cataloging system used by a majority of collectors is the one popularized by Col. Grover Criswell.
Criswell is deceased now, but his outrageous legend lives on in many ways, including examples of his oversized, colorful check shown, which celebrates his affinity for "down South."
The check embodies the man, colorful and outsized. A big kid, he was also precocious. He claimed he began dealing in Rebel notes as a 12-year-old after he and brother Clarence acquired a cache of bills from a family estate during the World War II years. About 1950, while still a teenager, he "decided" to publish an updated version of William West Bradbeer's standard Confederate catalog.
Grover went into dealing full time in 1955. In 1957 Grover and Clarence put out Confederate and Southern State Currency, volume 1 in their "Criswell's Currency Series." Although rooted in Bradbeer's work, the book found favor and burst onto the scene at just the right time to catch the upswing of interest being generated by the coming Civil War centennial.
Criswell's motto "Save Your Confederate Money Boys," and his over-the-top personality launched a media star. Self-proclaimed as "the richest man in the world in Confederate currency," he released publicity photos showing him behind a desk smoking with a large stogie behind an immense pile of Rebel notes.
A man of enormous appetites, especially for the spotlight, the colonel was the subject of articles in national publications such as Parade magazine, Life magazine, and all of the hobby periodicals. He also appeared on live television game shows "What's My Line," and "To Tell the Truth." In 1959 on "What's My Line?" he stumped the celebrity panel with his occupation as CSA money dealer.
He boasted that $2,000,000 face value in Rebel promises to pay and bonds were displayed in his store window. A few months later, at the age of 25, Criswell was elected mayor of St. Petersburg Beach, Fla., making him one of the youngest men in the nation to hold the office of mayor in a city whose population exceeded 10,000.
The Florida governor appointed Criswell to the State Civil War Centennial Commission, and he subsequently became a special advisor to the National Civil War Centennial Commission. He ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Representative. "Though never appointed, [he] reportedly came up for consideration twice as director of the U.S. Mint," according to numismatic columnist Ed Reiter.
In 1963 Criswell founded a money museum in St. Petersburg, which he advertised with a facsimile $1,000 Montgomery note No. 178. Burglars hit the museum for $300,000 in merchandise in 1964.
Criswell was a great self-promoter. He once told a reporter that he didn't need to be a millionaire; he just wanted to live like one. He lectured widely at civic, professional, educational and historical groups, and mounted displays at bank openings, and civic affairs across the south. He was doubtlessly also the largest dealer in CSA notes at the time.
While any of Grover's colorful checks is a fine addition to one's collection, this particular check has an interesting back story. As you can see the check is made out for a buck to one of the major numismatic periodicals. Grover was a major advertiser in many publications, and his ads were meant to garner attention and close sales. Notes and ephemera were typically mixed with blarney, and Grover was not above varnishing the truth with hyperbole.
In 1974, he owed this publication $274 or something like that sum for advertising. He paid the debt with 274 one-dollar checks.
I knew this story, and my longtime friend, paper money dealer and colleague Claud Murphy supplied the example shown. Claud told me Grover had a habit of writing small checks to people hoping they would retain them as souvenirs.
Of course that didn't happen with these 274 checks. Coin World publisher J. Oliver Amos cashed them immediately, but Grover had the last laugh. He had souvenirs to sell like the colorful check shown.
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