John Slidell - Confederate Cotton Loan - £500 - Bond

Jan. 29, 1863 Act, Criswell-118, Cotton Loan Bond issued in Europe by J. Henry Schroder & Co. and Emilie Erlanger & Co. Tri-valued at: 500 Pounds Sterling-12,500 French Francs-20,000 pounds of cotton. A key attraction of the Confederate bonds was that they were “cotton backed” and were exchangeable into New Orleans middling cotton at a rate of six pence sterling per pound (at a time when the going rate in England was better than twenty pence per pound). The catch was that the Confederate government undertook to deliver this cotton to one of its ports only after peace had been made -- while the war endured delivery had to be taken inland with the would-be recipient also having to run the Union blockade to get the cotton out. Signed by John Slidell, a U.S. and Confederate diplomat whose seizure with James M. Mason precipitated the Trent Affair during the American Civil War. Printed on quality heavy watermarked paper, very ornate engraved bond (the most attractive of all Confederate issues) with Liberty holding Confederate “Stars and Bars” leaning on bales of cotton and gazing across the sea. Nearly complete coupons at left and right. Truly a Classic! Popular and Very Important! Excellent Condition.