New Jersey: May 1, 1758
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    New Jersey Currency

    May 1, 1758

    An emission of £50,000 in bills of credit with the equivalent value in silver designated on each denomination. This was the eighth of thirteen "war issues" emitted between May 15, 1755 and April 8, 1762 to pay expenses related to the French and Indian War. This emission was authorized by an act of April 4, 1758 which stated the notes would remain valid legal tender until November 1, 1778. After that date the notes would need to be redeemed or exchanged for newer valid currency. The notes would become invalid and unredeemable after May 1, 1779. They were printed in Woodbridge by James Parker. The face is printed with red and black inks while the back, with a nature print of a sage leaf, is only in black ink. Signed and numbered in brown ink. The 6s note has plate A, the 15s through £3 notes have plates A and B, while the £6 note is without plate designation. The denominations printed were: 6s, 15s, 30s, £3 and £6.

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    £6                 Serial Number: 656         Plate A         NJ 05/01/58

    Signers: Samuel Nevill, Hugh Hartshorne, A. Johnston.

    Size: 52 x 100.5mm (front border design: 51 x 99mm; back border design: dimensions trimmed in our example).

    Comments: Signed and numbered in brown ink. Printed in red and black with the British arms on front. The denomination is keyed to two full suns, each sun representing £3. The front is printed in red with engravings in black. Note the bird in the left border, frequently found on New Jersey £6 notes of this period. The bill is keyed to two full suns which was a symbol for £6. On the back is an engraved nature print of a sage leaf with ornamental border designs. Above are the scales representing the astrological sign Libra and the phrase 24 followed by a crown with an apostrophe s for "24 crowns." Five shillings equalled a crown and twenty shillings equalled a pound, thus 24 crowns was equal to 120 shillings or £6. Below is the phrase "Six Pounds" with twins representing the astrological sign for Gemini. A hand written note "23 d" is on the back with the number crossed out.

    Provenance: EANA mail bid auction 11/16/96 lot 608. Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment.