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18 Pence / 1 Shilling and 6 Pence Colony of Pennsylvania
| Issuer | Colony of Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Year | 1773 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A central rectangular vignette executed in engraved line work presents a pastoral agricultural landscape with ploughed furrows receding into the distance beneath a clouded sky, enclosed within a ruled border. The denomination appears in letterpress above the vignette, and the printer's imprint is set below. The entire note is framed by an ornate typographical border composed of repeated floral and scroll ornaments. |
| Reverse lettering | To Counterfeit is Death One Shilling & Sixpence. Printed by HALL and SELLERS. |
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| 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.