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  • Continental Currency Index

    Continental Currency


    November 29, 1775

    An emission totaling $3,000,000 payable in Spanish milled dollars, or the equivalent in gold or silver, was authorized by the Continental Congress resolutions of November 29, 1775 with a supplemental $10,000 added on January 6,1776 for the replacement of worn out bills. Similar to the previous issue as to paper, printing and signatures but these bills were numbered in bright red ink and detector bills were on blue paper. Denominations printed were the: $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, $7 and $8.


    obv rev


    $1                   Serial Number: 39,925                  CC 11/29/75

    Signer: Nicholas Garrison (in red), Joseph Watkins, Junior.

    Size: 73 x 95mm (front border design: 70 x 91mm; back border design: 68 x 89mm).

    Comments: Numbering and first signature are in red ink; the second signature is in black ink. The emblem on the front shows an acanthus plant with a large weighted pot or basket pressing it down, however the acanthus leaves grow up around the pot. Above is the motto: "DEPRESSA RESURGIT" (Having been pressed down, it rises up again). The nature print on the back has a ragweed leaf and two willow leaves. The paper contains blue threads and mica flakes.

    Provenance: EANA mail bid auction 11/16/96 lot 458. Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment.


    obv rev


    $2                   Serial Number: 65,055                 CC 11/29/75

    Signers: Cornelius Barnes (in red), Jonathan Bayard Smith (a member of the Continental Congress).

    Size: 74 x 96mm (front border design: 71 x 93mm; back border design: 69 x 90mm).

    Comments: Numbering and first signature in red ink; second signature in brown ink. The emblem on the front shows grain being threshed with a flail with the motto: "Tribulatio ditat" (It is enriched by affliction). The nature print on the back is of rasberry and two filbert leaves; it is identical to a nature print used on earlier Pennsylvania currency. The paper contains blue threads and mica flakes.

    Provenance: EANA mail bid auction 11/16/96 lot 459. Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment.


    Emission continued on the next page