<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A US stationery store owner began a </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/police-issue-warning-as-counterfeit-cash-circulates-through-qlds-east/36f6a9a0-dd0b-48c9-b949-09a813bd79cc" rel="" target="" title="counterfeiting operation"><span>counterfeiting operation</span></a><span> on </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/today-in-history" rel="" target="" title="March 12, 1862"><span>March 12, 1862</span></a><span>, which would crash an entire country's economy.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>As the Confederate States of America broke away from the </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/usa" rel="" target="" title="US"><span>US</span></a><span> during </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/usa-news-homeowner-accidentally-given-live-civil-war-era-cannonball/cc20bfbd-efb9-4f74-9f70-e02b9a15cfa6" rel="" target="" title="the Civil War"><span>the Civil War</span></a><span>, the new nation began to print its own banknotes.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>One of those notes ended up in the hands of Samuel Upham, a </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/philadelphia" rel="" target="" title="Philadelphia"><span>Philadelphia</span></a><span> merchant.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-february-25-what-happened-on-this-day-zyzzyx-road/a4c4cbcd-5d42-4ecd-8625-cb9343c93178"><strong><span>Only six people saw the biggest flop of all time</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>With the means to make copies of the new money, Upham began printing his own version to sell as souvenirs to curious northerners.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Unlike in the loyal Northern states, the Confederacy did not have the technology to print high-quality currency.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Instead, it was printed on what was effectively newsprint - cheap, simple and remarkably easy to duplicate.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-march-12-what-happened-on-this-day/1d873918-5057-4a15-a8e6-4e0da54eb438" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Upham's duplicates were essentially identical to the Confederate legal tender, save for the note printed along the bottom: "Fac-simile Confederate Note – Sold wholesale and retail by S.C. Upham 403 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He started to sell the dollars as souvenirs for a penny each.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But he found people weren't buying the cash as curiosities. Instead, buyers were seeking to buy his money in bulk.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>So he started printing more and more. For two US dollars, you could buy a hundred Confederate notes. You could buy a thousand for $15.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-march-4-what-happened-on-this-day-nosferatu/8fe0b05e-517d-461d-bdb3-3f847f1dff1b"><strong><span>Judge orders destruction of one of the best horror films ever made</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Savvy black market merchants were buying the money, snipping his name off the bottom, then using the cash to surreptitiously buy items in the South.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Confederacy was flooded with these bogus notes, indistinguishable from the real thing.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The infusion of phony money caused massive inflation in the Confederacy at a time when a stable currency would be crucial to a budding new country.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In little more than a year, a Confederate dollar's value had fallen more than 90 per cent.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Upham later estimated that three per cent of all cash in the Confederacy had been printed by his Philadelphia enterprise.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Confederate government was well aware of his exploits, with eager black marketeers sometimes forgetting to cut his name off the fake money.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>They ended up placing a $10,000 bounty on his head, though nobody attempted to murder him. Would-be assassins could buy that much money for $150 from the man himself.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-march-8-what-happened-on-this-day/7f0ab619-7783-4557-b863-837e706951c9"><strong><span>Expensive coat led police to immense drug operation</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>And the US government in Washington considered charging Upham with forgery.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But the </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/usa" rel="" target="" title="United States"><span>United States</span></a><span> never formally recognised the Confederacy as a legitimate country. As far as the Treasury was concerned, Upham was printing fake money from a fake country.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>By late 1863, his business had dried up for the simple reason that he had been too successful.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Confederate currency was so hyperinflated that nobody would accept it in the South.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He returned to selling perfume and stationery two years before the war ended, having successfully crashed the Confederate economy.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-march-11-what-happened-on-this-day-claude-francois/d813231a-713a-40d7-84f2-31b31aca6ebb"><strong><span>Superstar dies in freak bathroom accident</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/today-in-history" rel="" target="" title="For more from our Today in History archive, click here."><strong><span>For more from our Today in History archive, click here</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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