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Pennsylvania

Fifty Shillings - 50/- - £1/10/- 1st May 1760 Printed by Benjamin Franklin

Pennsylvania first issued paper money beginning in 1723 as a means of funding several provincial projects in the colony, the earliest notes were printed by Andrew Bradford. Benjamin Franklin printed a small change note for an Evan Morgan in June 1729 and apparently accepted some in payment, but he did not himself print notes for the colony until 1739. With the 1739 issue Franklin introduced what was then a high tech solution to thwarting counterfeiting, the inclusion of a leaf for printing the reverse of the note - the leaf being unique in it's structure and the print thereof being difficult to duplicate an exact copy of.

Counterfeiting of paper money in 18th century was on a scale that is now unimaginable - a plague that never really was quite eradicated during the time. The simplicity of printing techniques during the time, coupled with the trying times, coalesced to driving the colonies into near financial collapse at times - with entire paper money issues being recalled and exchanged for new bills at times. The penalties for forgery became severe - the death penalty is about as strong a measure as can be enacted, but in essence even that harsh measure never completely eradicated the problem - particularly so during the American Revolution a few years later when the British government conspired to circulate counterfeit notes.

One of the most fascinating aspects of collecting colonial era paper money is the history, in this instance the note was printed in the shop of Benjamin Franklin and his associate David Hall. David Hall was born in Scotland in 1714 and became a journeyman printer in Franklin's firm in 1743 having just prior emigrated from Scotland. Hall, being a a reliable associate became a full partner of Franklin in 1748 and ran the firm during Franklin's extended travels to Great Britain during the 1750's and 1760's. In all likelihood after 1748 Franklin really had little to do with his printing business in Philadelphia beyond being a passive partner and investor - so unlike my 1746 Delaware note which was printed by Franklin - this note was printed by David Hall. Franklin's name continued being displayed on the notes through the 1764 issue, in 1766 Franklin sold his interest in the firm to David Hall who subsequently brought in William Sellers as a partner in the business. After David Hall's demise in 1772 William Sellers continued the firm under the Hall and Sellers name until his demise in 1804. Hall and Sellers would be the primary printing contractor for Pennsylvania and later Continentals and 1780 Guaranty notes.

During the 18th century coinage in America was always in short supply. Great Britain itself suffered a severe shortage of coinage resulting in tokens and counterfeits circulating to a much greater extent than regal coinage. Britains' colonies in America suffered an even greater dearth of coinage - usually when coin was used it would shortly find it's way back to Britain to pay for goods from there. To alleviate the need for small change the colonies soon legislated acts to issue small denomination notes, in this instance 3d or threepence. These issues were very well circulated and saw much usage, as is clearly evidenced by this note. Despite being in rough shape it is scarce because so many of them were well used and lost or destroyed. This one evidently found it's way into a late 19th or very early 20th century collection where they used stamp hinges with water adhesive gum on them to apply it to a page in a collection book.

Usually as in this case the denominations had a corresponding British coin for that value, in this case a fourpence coin or groat.

But in other instances there really was not a nine-pence coin in Britain, and in reality this denomination more closely corresponded to the Spanish Reale in value. The signer of this note is Joseph Sims. Denominations of Pennsylvania currency had only one signer for denominations of nine pence and less, and three signers for one shilling and above.

A one shilling note, still pretty heavily circulated.

This half crown note from the same series would have been worth about half of a dollar or four reales during that time.

This note is for one shilling sixpence and was issued reflecting a need for much more currency in the years just prior to the beginning of the American Revolution.

This 50/- or £2/10/- note was the largest denomination issued by Pennsylvania during this time. It's equivalent in Spanish milled dollars would have been approximately ten dollars - then a considerable sum. This printing by Hall and Sellers reflects the usage of some of Ben Franklin's techniques for printing and also utilised red ink for part of the printing as an anti-counterfeiting measure. With notes from this era it is usually easier to find larger denomination notes and those are usually in better preservation because they didn't see circulation as much and were often saved when others were destroyed or lost to history.

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