Virginia Currency
May 7, 1781
An emission of £20,000,000 in legal tender Treasury bills redeemable by December 30, 1794 for Spanish milled dollars or gold or silver at the rate of $1 in specie for $40 in currency. Printed by John Dunlap in Philadelphia using cast border cuts on notes of $100 and higher and typeset ornament borders on lower denominations. Printed on medium thin paper with blank backs. There are three signatures on $50 and up and two signatures on lower denominations. By an act of November 1791 the legal tender status of this emission was revoked and the bills were recalled at a redemption rate of $1 in specie for $1,000 in notes, until October 1, 1782 when the notes became totally invalid. This was the last colonial emission by Virginia. The Denomination issued were: $10 (£ 3), $15 (£4 10s), $25 (£7 10s), $30 (£ 9), $35 (£10 10s), $40 (£12), $50 (£15), $70 (£21), $75 (£22 15s), $100 (£30), $200 (£60), $500 (£150), $1,000 (£300), $1,200 (£360), $1,500 (£450), $2,000 (£600).obv
$40 Serial Number: 1659 VA 05/07/81
Signers: Bolling Stark, J. Rose.
Size: 66 x 87mm (front border design: 65 x 85mm).
Comments: Numbered and signed in a light brown ink. Equivalencies stated on the bill are £12 or $40, exchangable at a rate of one Spanish milled dollar to forty in currency. Click here to view the blank back.
Provenance: Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment. from the EAHA mail bid auction of 12/11/99, lot 525.
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$50 Serial Number: 2187 VA 05/07/81
Signers: J. M. Simmons, A, Craig, John Lyne.
Size: 72 x 91mm (front border design: 71 x 90mm).
Comments: Numbered and signed in a redish brown ink. Equivalencies stated on the bill are £15 or $50, exchangable at a rate of one Spanish milled dollar to forty in currency. The unprinted back has a modern annotation in pencil in the upper right corner and a strip of archival tape along the center fold. Click here to view the back.
Provenance: Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment. from the EAHA mail bid auction of 12/11/99, lot 526.
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$200 Serial Number: 275 VA 05/07/81
Signers: Bolling Starke, John Lyne, J. Hopkins.
Size: not given.
Comments: Numbered and signed in brown ink. Equivalencies stated on the bill are £60 or $200, exchangable at a rate of one Spanish milled dollar to forty in currency. In lower left corner is the initial W and in lower right corner is the initial F. The cast cut for the right border has the letters upside down.
Courtesy of Early American Numismatic Auctions, Inc. Images used with permission from their on-line auction catalog for the auction of April 20, 1996, lot 619.
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$500 Serial Number: 199 VA 05/07/81
Signers: Bolling Stark, John Lyne, J. Hopkins.
Size: 72 x 93mm (front border design: 69 x 90.5mm).
Comments: Numbered and signed in brown ink. Equivalencies stated on the bill are £150 or $500, exchangable at a rate of one Spanish milled dollar to forty in currency. Click here to view the blank back.
Provenance: Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment. from the EANA mail bid auction of 12/2/95, lot 546.
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$1000 Serial Number: 3,162 VA 05/07/81
Signers: Bolling Stark, A. Craig, John Lyne.
Size: 72 x 93mm (front border design: 69 x 90mm; back blank).
Comments: Numbered and signed in brown ink. Equivalencies stated on the bill are £300 or $1,000, exchangable at a rate of one Spanish milled dollar to forty in currency. Click here to view the blank back.
Provenance: Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment from the EANA mail bid auction of 1/18/97, lot 408.
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$1200 Serial Number: 2,414 VA 05/07/81
Signers: J. M. Simmons, A. Craig, John Lyne.
Size: 67 x 102mm (front border design cropped).
Comments: Numbered and signed in brown inks. Equivalencies stated on the bill are £360 or $1,200, exchangable at a rate of one Spanish milled dollar to forty in currency. There is a large left selvege margin but the right and bottom edges have been closely trimmed into the border design. The left border cut (which is slightly off center) depicts the heavens represented by the sun, the moon and a new constellation of thirteen stars. Below is the motto of the Roman Emperor Constantine: IN HOC SIGNO VINCES (In this sign you will conquer). Constantine, the first christian emperor, saw a crucifix in the sky during a battle and heard this motto. The blank back of this example has been fully backed with modern paper so has not been included as an image.
Provenance: Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment from the EAHA mail bid auction of 12/13/97, lot 313. Previously from the EANA mail bid auction of 8/29/92 as lot 2017.
