30 Shillings Colony of New Jersey

Isaac Collins printed this note in Burlington under direct authorization from the Colonial Assembly, working through the early months of 1776 — the same year he was appointed official printer to the New Jersey Provincial Congress. The nature print border, made by pressing actual leaves against the plate, was a deliberate anti-counterfeiting measure pioneered by Franklin and widely adopted across the colonial emissions precisely because it was nearly impossible to duplicate by engraving.

Thirty shillings sat at an awkward mid-denomination, rarely the face of everyday transactions but too common for large commerce. Collins's Burlington shop produced the full 1776 series under considerable political pressure, with independence declared before the ink was dry on many sheets.