2-377-991 - Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images

New York Gold Exchange, USA, 1863. The New York Gold Exchange was established early in the American Civil War as an open market for transactions involving gold and the government-created demand notes known as greenbacks. It was founded by bankers and brokers who had been involved in the New York Stock Exchange and other mercantile exchanges for whom trades in gold and greenbacks were taking up to much of their attention.