Continental Currency: 5/10/1775

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An emission totaling $3,000,000 payable in Spanish milled dollars, or the equivalent in gold or silver, was authorized by the Continental Congress resolution of May 10, 1775, and approved by resolutions of June 23-24 and July 25, 1775, and put into circulation in August. The money, for "The United Colonies", was to be used to pay war expenses and was to be redeemed from taxes collected by the colonies. The paper, made at Ivy Mills in Chester County, Pennsylvania, contained blue fibers and mica flakes and was similar to the type used on Pennsylvania currency. The exception was the unique $20 denomination, which was printed on paper made by Benjamin Franklin (thin white paper that had the left side polychromed by marbling). This bill is also a different size from the other denominations. The bills were printed by Hall and Sellers in Philadelphia using border cuts, emblem cuts, nature prints, and hand-set type. Thirty-six of the borders were designed and cut by David Rittenhouse. The bills were signed with red and brown ink and numbered in dark red ink. Counterfeit detectors were on pink paper except for the $20, which was on blue paper. Denominations printed were the $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, $7, $8, $20 and $30.

Three Dollars

Image Courtesy of Louis Jordan

Numbering and first signature in red ink; second signature in black ink. The emblem on the front (40mm) depicts an eagle fighting a heron with the motto "Exitus in dubio est" (The outcome is in doubt). On the back is a nature print of skeletonized elm and maple fruit. In the top margin on the reverse is the signature "Jonathan Elsworth." The paper contains blue thread and mica flakes. Provenance: Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment from the EANA mail bid auction of 1/13/96, lot 270.

Four Dollars

Image Courtesy of Louis Jordan

Numbering and second signature in red ink; first signature in brown ink. The emblem on the front shows a wild boar charging into a spear with the motto: "Aut mors aut vita decora" (Either death or an honorable life). The nature print on the back is of skeletonized maple fruit and is identical to the nature print used on earlier Pennsylvania currency. The paper contains blue threads and mica flakes.

Provenance: Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment from the EANA mail bid auction of 1/13/96, lot 270.

Five Dollars

Image Courtesy of Louis Jordan

The numbering and first signature are in brown ink; the second signature is in a light red ink. This is the most difficult emblem in the series to understand. Benjamin Franklin explained the Continental Currency emblems in a letter published under the pseudonym of Clericus in the Pennsylvania Gazette of September 20, 1775. For the five-dollar emblem, he explained:

...we have a thorny bush, which a hand seems to be attempting to eradicate. The hand appears to bleed, as pricked by spines. The motto is, SUSTINE VEL ABSTINE; which may be rendered, Bear with me, or let me alone; or thus, Either support or leave me. The bush I suppose to mean America, the bleeding hand Britain. Would to God that bleeding were stopt, the wounds of that hand healed, and its future operations directed by wisdom and equity; so shall the hawthorn flourish, and form a hedge around it, annoying with her thorns only its invading enemies. [B. Franklin, Writings, ed. by J.A. Leo Lemay, 1987, pp. 734-738 on p. 735.]

The nature print on the back is of a betony and a sage leaf and is identical to the nature print used on earlier Pennsylvania currency. The paper contains blue threads and mica flakes.

Provenance: Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment from the EANA mail bid auction of 08/23/97, lot 393.

Seven Dollars

Image Courtesy of Louis Jordan

Numbering and first signature in brown ink; second faded signature in red ink. The second signature is difficult to transcribe; it appears to be Robert Strettell Jones. The emblem on the front shows a storm at sea with the motto: "Serenabit" (It will clear up). The nature print on the back is of buttercup. The paper contains blue threads and mica flakes.

Provenance: Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment from the EANA mail bid auction of 11/16/96, lot 454.

Eight Dollars

Image Courtesy of Louis Jordan

Numbering and second signature in brown ink; first signature in red ink. The emblem on the front (39mm) shows a harp with thirteen strings with the motto: "Majora minoribus consonant" (The larger are in harmony with the smaller). The nature print on the back is of a henebit leaf and two buttercup leaves. It is identical to a nature print used on earlier Pennsylvania currency. The paper contains blue threads and mica flakes.

Provenance: Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment from the EANA mail bid auction of 10/16/99, lot 306.

Twenty Dollars

Image Courtesy of Louis Jordan

Numbering and second signature in red ink; first signature in black ink. Most colonial and confederation era paper currency is aligned so that the back is either properly displayed or to one side when the note is turned with a "medal turn" (that is, like turning a page in a book). All notes on this website display the small images with the reverse displayed as it would appear following a medal turn. This was done so that the alignment of the front and back can be easily determined. This special issue and denomination note is aligned in the manner of a "coin turn," hence I displayed the reverse upside down on the smaller image, as that is the orientation if one flips the note from the left or right side (as in a medal turn). Simply click the small image to see the large image of the reverse properly oriented.

The emblem on the front shows a strong wind creating waves on the ocean with the motto "Vi concitatae" (It assults with a violent force). On the back is an emblem with the shining sun and ships on a calm sea with the motto "Cessante vento conquiescemus" (When the wind subsides we shall rest). Newman has discovered a preliminary sketch for the front emblem in the papers of Benjamin Franklin (see his third edition, p. 53). The $20 bill from this first emission was unique in that it was a different size from all other continental currency and was made on different paper. It was printed by Hall and Sellers on a thin white paper with a marbled left border that had been made by Benjamin Franklin. Unlike the other bills, they were printed individually rather than in sheets. Also, since this note was the only Continental Congress that did not include border cuts, it was the only Continental Congress variety that did not include the phrase "The United Colonies" (later changed to "The United States").

Provenance: Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment from the EAHA mail bid auction of 04/17/04, lot 656.