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Artistry Culture & In Numismatics ~ Colonial American Banknotes

One of the intriguing aspects of American history is that the turbulent genesis of the American Revolution was financed by colonial paper money issues, a fact made all the more tantamount by the realisation that the British Crown frowned upon their issuance in the first place. The colonial era governments in North America were pretty much left on their own as far as financing projects, expeditions etc whilst the Crown expected them to muster troops for defence and of course pay usurious taxes. A dearth of coinage in the colonies was a continual problem, from the earliest settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts on up until after American independence.

Some colonies, notably Massachusetts-Bay had come out with coinage from the 1650's, but later on without patent from the Crown could not continue to strike coinage. By the 1690's an alternative had to be found, as the colony of Massachusetts-Bay had to finance a military expedition which would be called King Phillips War in 1690. To finance this expedition the colony issued the first paper money ever authorised by a government. What was first just a temporary expedient would by the time of the American Revolution become a permanent fixture in American life.

One of the factors that predicates greater awareness and collector interests in colonial paper money is that few collectors are knowledgeable about it - and well the designs of the money are far more spartan than we have grown accustomed to. Indeed printing really had not advanced a lot until the late 18th century, so detailed designs with engravings were fairly scarce - and notes were often just plain texts with a few woodcuts or nature prints in the case of the Ben Franklin printed and inspired notes. This Four Shillings note from New York City is somewhat of an exception, the obverse or front of the note is fairly typical of colonial notes, but the reverse is a detailed woodcut depicting steam driven pumping stations flanked by water fountains - testament to a technology that was then in it's infancy but a matter of esteem in the city.

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