New Jersey Currency
February 20, 1776
An emission of £50,000 in bills of credit as proclamation money which was made legal tender on September 20, 1776. The issue was redeemable until December 31, 1791 and became invalid after June 21, 1792. Originally this emission was to consist of £30,000 redeemable by December 21, 1786 but the amount and due date was emended on February 28, 1776 before any bills had been printed. This is the first New Jersey issue since the emission of December 31, 1763 and is the first issue printed by Isaac Collins in Burlington. The front of the bills are printed in red and black and back have an engraved cut of a leaf rather than the usual nature print. The back has a reversed orientation with respect to most other New Jersey issues. The bills are on mica flaked paper watermarked "New Jersey."The 30s and £3 have plates A and B. Denominations issued were: 6s, 15s, 30s and £3.obv
rev
30s Plate A Serial Number: 4958 NJ 02/20/76
Signers: Hendrick Fisher, Azariah Dunham, John Dennis.
Size: 57 x 101mm (front border design: 54 x 98mm; back border design: 54 x 60mm; back border design printed off-center, shifted about 2mm to the left on our example).
Comments: Signed and numbered in black ink. Printed in red and black. British arms appear in lower left. Denomination is keyed with with images of six crowns aligned vertically to the right of the arms. There is also a small zodiac image (Libra, the scales) in red ink just to the left of "No." in the upper right. Engraved cut of a maple type leaf on back with an ornamental border design, the top border of which contains zodiac symbols. Paper contains mica flakes and a watermark which reads: "NEW JERSEY" which is oriented to be read from the back. This example contains some blue stains on front.
Provenance: EANA mail bid auction 12/02/95 lot 470. Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment.
