1883-O Morgan Silver Dollar w/1870–1880 $5 State of Louisiana Baby Bond

Morgan’s Lady and Louisiana’s Baby Combine for a Silver Dollar & Paper Currency Set

Leave it to some slick, fast-talking Louisiana lawmakers to find a way to stick it to the Federal Government. It happened after the Civil War during the Reconstruction Era. Much of the South was left reeling and many people needed all the help they could get in their efforts to get their farms back up and running and to rebuild their homes & businesses. But still piqued at the states of the former Confederacy, the Federal Government placed many restrictions on Southern states, including a hefty tax on state-issued bank notes.

Struggling to rebuild its economy, Louisiana came up with an ingenious way to circumvent the restrictions. To get around the issue and fool the government, Louisiana lawmakers produced a $5 “bond” that was, in reality, a state-issued $5 bill! These $5 Louisiana notes were made with interest-bearing coupons to disguise them as bonds! Used like regular bank notes, they became known as “Baby Bonds” due to their vignette of a young girl wearing a bonnet. The ultimate “Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it!” protest, these Louisiana Baby Bonds circulated right under the noses of federal agents and carpet baggers and were accepted as legal tender along with new Federal currency notes that were also circulating in the South.

One Louisiana lawmaker got himself a little too involved in the circulation of these bonds. During the 1880s, Louisiana’s State Treasurer Ed Bunker managed to get his hands on the original plates used to print the bonds and began a counterfeiting operation. His scheme came to a crashing halt after authorities discovered around $300,000 in counterfeit Baby Bonds with identical serial numbers in his safe deposit box. Bunker had the last laugh however, as he stayed a step ahead of the law by fleeing to Brazil before they closed in on him. It’s possible the phrase “Burn Baby, Burn” originated when the government burned Bunker’s stash of counterfeit Baby Bonds.

We’ve paired one of these seldom-seen bonds with a Brilliant Uncirculated (BU) Morgan Silver Dollar struck in 1883 at the New Orleans Mint to create a fascinating two-piece Louisiana set that paints a vivid picture of life during Reconstruction-era America. Your set will also come beautifully housed in a presentation case along with a Certificate of Authenticity. We’re likely to burn through our small supply of these sets so grab yours now!