Pennsylvania Currency
June 18, 1764
An emission of £55,000 in legal tender bills valid until October 1, 1772, but the bills lost their legal tender status in 1764. All notes have the Royal British arms on the front and those from 5s and up have a nature print on the back; pence denominations have typeset backs. Printed by Benjamin Franklin and David Hall in Philadelphia. The 3d-9d bills have plates A, B and C, while the higher denomination have only plates A and B, except the 5s notes which comes in plates A-D. Throughout the denominations the spelling of the colony name "Pennsylvania" is found in various forms. It is thought Franklin did this as an anti-counterfeiting device. The pence denominations are smaller in size. Denominations issued were: 3d, 4d, 6d, 9d, 1s, 1s6d, 2s, 2s6d, 5s, 10s, and 20s.obv
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20s Plate B Serial Number: 19,328 PA 06/18/64
Signers: George Dillwyn, Amos Hillborn, S. P. Moore.
Size: 88 x 70mm (front border design: vertical dimension is 87mm., horizontal dimension is trimmed; back border design: vertical dimension is 86mm., horizontal dimension is trimmed).
Comments: British arms appear on left of front with G R for Georgius Rex. The denomination is keyed to four crowns above the arms. Colony name appears as "Pennsylvania". Printed by Benjamin Franklin and David Hall.
Provenance: EANA mail bid auction 1/13/96 lot 269. Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment.
For another example of a 20s note - Plate A, serial number 2955, signed by Amos Hillborn,George Dillwyn and S. P. Moore from the EANA on line auction catalog of April 20, 1966, lot 376. click here for image of the front
