Catalog
4 Pence Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
| Issuer | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Year | 1777 |
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| Printer | John Dunlap, Philadelphia, United States |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress-printed note on aged laid paper with an ornamental border running along all four edges, incorporating scrollwork and the denomination 'FOUR PENCE' in the top and bottom panels. A circular vignette at centre-left contains a small landscape scene, surrounded by the statutory text authorising the note as legal tender under the Act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, dated 10 April 1777. A manuscript hand-signature appears in red ink across the lower portion, with a handwritten serial number in the upper left and the additional designation 'A Groat' at lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Letterpress-printed reverse on aged laid paper, enclosed within a delicate floral and scrollwork border of repeating typographic ornaments. The text is centred and arranged in a formal typographic hierarchy, with the anti-counterfeiting warning at the top, the denomination repeated above and below, and the printer's imprint at centre. Small decorative typographic ornaments separate the text blocks. |
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| Comments |
Pennsylvania's 1777 fractional emission was a direct response to the chronic small-change shortage that plagued the Continental economy throughout the war years. Hard coin had largely vanished from circulation — hoarded, exported, or melted — and low-denomination paper filled the gap for everyday transactions that larger Continental bills couldn't serve.
John Dunlap, who printed this note in Philadelphia, is better known as the man who ran off the first copies of the Declaration of Independence the night of July 4–5, 1776. His press handled both history and the mundane arithmetic of wartime commerce.