Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
18 Pence / 1 Shilling and 6 Pence Colony of Pennsylvania
| Issuer | Colony of Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Year | 1773 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Pound |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The Pennsylvania Coat of Arms occupies the central vignette, flanked by typeset value declarations arranged in columnar format along the upper and lower borders. The text body carries the full legal authorization clause referencing the 13th year of the reign of King George III and the date of issue, October 1st, 1773, rendered in letterpress typography typical of colonial American currency. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | To Counterfeit is Death One Shilling & Sixpence. Printed by HALL and SELLERS. |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Pennsylvania's 1773 emission was authorized under an Act of Assembly dated March 20, 1773 — one of the final colonial currency issues before the Continental Congress effectively took over paper money policy during the Revolution. Hall and Sellers, the Philadelphia printing firm run by David Hall and William Sellers, also operated the Pennsylvania Gazette, and their press handled official government printing work throughout the 1770s. The fractional denomination reflects Pennsylvania's practical approach to small-change shortages, a chronic problem in colonial commerce where hard coin disappeared rapidly into trade deficits with Britain.
The 1773 notes were among the last Pennsylvania colonial issues to carry the anti-counterfeiting botanical impressions pioneered by Benjamin Franklin decades earlier — nature-printed leaf patterns whose vein structures were considered essentially impossible to replicate by hand.