The final portion of this article is the collecting of counterfeit currency. One important note that any counterfeit modern currency that is either in circulation or your collection is illegal to possess. Therefore if for some reason you were given a fake $100 or any other denomination note you are mandated to turn it in to the Secret Service or bank and unfortunately you will not be compensated for its value.

The exceptions are Colonial Currency, Obsolete or broken bank notes, and Confederate Currency. There are quite a few examples of Colonial currency that are counterfeit and many have actually been certified. One interesting aspect of Colonial Currency is that many of the issues contain the statement "To Counterfeit is Death." Obviously this did not dissuade some counterfeiters.

Many Broken Bank notes were also extensively counterfeited. Many are collectable and some have even been certified.

The final category of collectable counterfeits is that of Confederate Currency. As you can note at the beginning of this article there is a "Red Book" devoted to this subject. Confederate Currency was extensively counterfeited and circulated. Some are close copies to the actual real counterpart which some are almost fantasy pieces. Due to the multitude of different issues the merchants and public had a difficult time keeping up with what was real and what wasn't. It is eagerly collected and some counterfeits actually are valued above $1,000 each. A couple of examples are shown above.

So now you have it, a brief synopsis of collectable counterfeits coins and currency. Many of these pieces are highly collectable and eagerly sought after. Some command prices into the thousands of dollars.

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
Collectable Counterfeit Coins, Part One(https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n04a24.html)
Collectable Counterfeit Coins, Part Two(https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n05a26.html)