Currency notes from the 13 original colonies, each measuring approximately 4 x 2.75. Notes range in denomination from two shillings to forty shillings, and one dollar to four dollars, from the colonies of New Hampshire, New York (1776), Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware (1776), North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia (1776). Each note bears one to five authoritative signatures at the conclusion of the ornately designed slip, and range in date from 1775 through 1784. Matted and framed with an image of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and a small plaque reading ‘Paper Money from the Thirteen Original Colonies,’ to an overall size of 35 x 30. In very good condition, with mild toning, scattered light soiling, typical cancellation hole through the center of the New Hampshire and Massachusetts notes, and irregularly trimmed edges.Protective 99% UV filtering Plexiglas contains the entire frame and each note has been archivally encapsulated in mylar for protection, which is fully reversible.
Before the Revolutionary War, the British Parliament passed the Currency Acts of 1751, 1764, and 1773 to control colonial paper money to protect their merchants from depreciated colonial currency. By not allowing the currency to be used for "legal tender" to pay public and private debts, this created a money crisis for the colonials who had little access to gold and silver for coinage except for foreign coins like the Spanish dollar. When the war broke out, the colonies were freed from the monetary restrictions, allowing the Continental Congress to print paper money to help fund the war effort. Each state as well issued its own unrestricted currency, contributing to a rapid depreciation of both state and Continental money. To address this problem, the Constitution, ratified in 1788, banned the right of independent states to coin and print money.
