South Carolina Currency
April 10, 1778
An emission of £100,000 in legal tender lawful money. The obverse of these smaller sized bills is engraved with a different vignette on each denomination. The backs are blank. According to Newman the 20s plate still exists. The legal tender status of this and all earlier issues was revoked in the act of February 6, 1782. There are two signers on each note. Denominations issued were: 2s6d, 3s9d, 5s, 7s6d, 10s, 15s, 20s and 30s.obv
2s6d Serial Number: 8603 SC 04/10/78
Signers: William Mathews, Henry Crouch.
Size: 65 x 134mm. (obverse border design 57 x 93mm).
Comments: Seal depicts two cornucopiae. Reverse blank. Large selvege at the left border and a small selvege at the top border. Click here to view the blank back.
Provenance: Purchased through the the Robert H. Gore Numismatic Endowment from the R.M. Smythe Chicago Paper Money Exposition Auction no. 196 of February 17, 2000, lot 1038.
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3s9d Serial Number: 9473 SC 04/10/78
Signers: John Neufville, Jr., Henry Crouch.
Size: 62 x 99mm. (obverse border design 57 x 92mm).
Comments: Seal depicts a beaver on a river bank with a stick in its mouth. Reverse blank. Paper watermarked "Zoon . . .?" The unprinted back has a modern annotation 1702 along the right edge. Click here to view the back.
Provenance: From the Robert H. Gore Numismatic Collection.
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5s Serial Number: 863 SC 04/10/78
Signers: John Beale, John Peronneau.
Size: 63 x 106mm. (obverse border design 56 x 93mm).
Comments: The seal in the lower right corner depicts a phoenix rising from the flames. The phoenix is a mythological bird resembling the eagle but with red and gold feathers. According to classical legend every 500 years the phoenix made a nest and then died. The new phoenix carried the parent's body to the temple of the sun god where it was consumed on a funeral pyre. During the Middle Ages this story was conflated so that it was thought a new phoenix would arise from the flaming ashes of parent's funeral pyre. This note is signed and numbered in light brown ink. Click here to view the blank back.
Provenance: EANA mail bid auction 11/16/96 lot 729. Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment.
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10s Serial Number: 672 SC 04/10/78
Signers: John Beale, John Peronneau.
Size: 62 x 100mm. (obverse border design 56 x 94mm).
Comments: Seal depicts a palmetto tree on a river bank with a fort (probably Charleston) on the opposite bank. Click here to view the blank back.
Provenance: EANA mail bid auction 04/20/96 lot 600. Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment.
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15s Serial Number: unnumbered SC 04/10/78
Signers: Jacob Read.
Size: 62 x 101mm. (obverse border design 56 x 93mm).
Comments: Seal depicts the sun rising over a river bank. The reverse has a sketch of a face looking to the left in pencil and a second sketch of the lower half of a face (nose to the neck) looking to the right in crayon on the side. Click here to view the back. To view the crayon drawing properly oriented click here.
Provenance: Purchased through the the Robert H. Gore Numismatic Endowment from the R.M. Smythe Chicago Paper Money Exposition Auction no. 196 of February 17, 2000, lot 1042.
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30s Serial Number: 10,378 SC 04/10/78
Signers: Nicholas Langford, William Roper.
Size: 62 x 96mm. (obverse border design 56 x 93mm).
Comments: Seal depicts a personification of Hope holding a branch in her left hand and with her right hand resting on an anchor. Click here to view the blank back.
Provenance: EANA mail bid auction 04/26/97 lot 329. Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment.
