Catalog
7 Dollars 'Continental Currency' - United Colonies
| Issuer | Continental Congress of the United Colonies |
|---|---|
| Year | 1775-1776 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | SERENABIT SEVEN DOLLARS This Bill entitles the Bearer to receive SEVEN SPANISH milled DOLLARS, or the Value thereof in Gold or Silver, according to the Reſolutions of the CONGRESS, held at Philadelphia, the 10th of May, 1775. VII DOLLARS. |
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| Protection type | Nature print |
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| Comments |
Hall and Sellers — the Philadelphia printing partnership of David Hall and William Sellers — produced this note as part of the Continental Congress's effort to fund a war it had no tax authority to finance. The nature print border, made by pressing actual leaves against the plate to create an inimitable organic impression, was Benjamin Franklin's anti-counterfeiting innovation. British forgers, working with engraved facsimiles, found it effectively impossible to replicate convincingly.
The "United Colonies" designation dates this issue to before July 1776. After the Declaration, subsequent emissions used "United States." That wording shift is the quickest way to bracket the issue date without consulting the emission records directly.