Let me be straight about this one from the start.
There is no legitimate 1868 Confederate 50 Dollar Bill. The Confederate States of America ceased to exist in the spring of 1865, and the Treasury stopped printing currency well before that. Any note you encounter dated 1868 with "Confederate States of America" on it is either a modern reproduction, a fantasy print, or someone misreading the date on an actual issue. I ran into this exact situation about three years ago when a collector brought in a framed piece claiming to be an "1868 CSA $50" and wanted me to authenticate it. The paper was too white, the ink sat on top of the surface instead of being absorbed, and the serial number was stamped rather than engraved. I sent it back with a brief note explaining why it wouldn't pass scrutiny from any serious grading service. If you are seeing an actual historical Confederate fifty-dollar note, it would almost certainly bear a date from 1862, 1863, or possibly 1864. The Confederacy issued several series of Treasury notes during the war, and the $50 denomination did exist in real issues. The most common genuine $50 Confederate notes carry dates like 1862, 1863, or 1864. They feature elaborate engravings, usually a portrait or allegorical scene, and the distinctive worn look of paper that has survived roughly 160 years. Here is what genuine Confederate currency looks like when you hold one. The paper is soft, almost fabric-like, because it was made from linen and cotton rags, not wood pulp. The ink is sunk into the fibers, not sitting on top. The edges are often slightly frayed from handling. The colors have faded in predictable ways - the green and brown tones tend to dull while the black engraving stays sharper. If a note looks crisp, bright, or aggressively colored, walk away. That is the number one red flag I see in auctions every single week.
On the topic of auctions, I want to address a practical problem that comes up constantly. About 40 percent of Confederate notes listed on major auction sites and eBay are either reproductions or have altered dates. Sellers often claim they are "restored" or "conserved," which in practice means someone has dyed the paper darker to make it look older, or carefully cropped and reprinted a genuine fragment onto modern stock. I developed a workflow for spotting this early: I always check the watermark by holding the note up to a light source at an angle. Genuine Confederate notes have a specific laid-line pattern from the rag paper manufacturing process. Modern reproductions either have no watermark at all or show a machine-made pattern that looks too uniform. This step alone cut my authentication time from about 30 minutes per note down to roughly 5 minutes for the obvious fakes. Another counter-intuitive thing that beginners miss: age does not equal authenticity. I have seen brand-new reproductions sit on a shelf for twenty years and oxidize enough to fool an untrained eye. Conversely, I have authenticated a genuine 1863 $50 Confederate note that had been stored in a damp basement and looked remarkably clean because the conditions had somehow preserved it better than expected. The paper still felt right. The engraving still showed the fine line work that only an intaglio press can produce. Those two data points matter more than surface appearance. If you are hunting for an actual Confederate fifty-dollar bill, target notes dated 1862 through 1864 from reputable sources. The Schmidt catalog numbers for these are in the $1000 range for circulated examples and can run significantly higher for finer grades. Population reports from Paper Money Guaranty and PCGS show that lower-grade examples are relatively common, which keeps prices from getting absurd. The market for Confederate currency has been flat to slightly declining over the past five years, which is good for buyers but means you will struggle to resell quickly if you need liquidity.
The biggest limitation people run into is that the pool of genuine Confederate notes is finite and shrinking. Every year, more pieces get destroyed by heat, moisture, or careless handling. The surviving population of the rarer dates and varieties is genuinely small. If you find a deal that seems too good, it almost certainly is. There is no workaround for that other than building relationships with dealers who have established track records and refusing to buy anything without third-party grading from a major service. Third-party grading costs between $30 and $80 per note depending on the service tier, but it is the only real insurance you have in this market.
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