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!
8 Dollars Colony of Maryland
| Issuer | Colony of Maryland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1774 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 8 Dollars |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Eight Dollars. THIS Indented BILL of EIGHT DOLLARS shall entitle the Bearer hereof to receive BILLS of EXCHANGE payable in London, or Gold and Silver, at the Rate of Four Shillings and Six-pence Sterling per Dollar for the said Bill, according to the Directions of an Act of Assembly of MARYLAND. Dated in ANNAPOLIS, this 10th Day of April, Anno Domini 1774. 8 dollars. 8 dollars. |
| Reverse description | The reverse carries a nature-print vignette of two plant leaves rendered in fine detail, a technique pioneered by Benjamin Franklin as an early anti-counterfeiting measure, whereby an actual leaf was pressed directly onto the printing plate to produce an impression impossible to replicate by engraving. The denomination EIGHT DOLLARS and its sterling equivalent appear in letterpress text, along with the printer's imprint and the statutory warning against counterfeiting. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
Anne Catharine Green was one of the few women operating a colonial press at this level — she had taken over the Maryland Gazette and the province's official printing contracts after her husband Jonas Green died in 1767, and the Annapolis operation she ran with her son Frederick held the Maryland Assembly's business through the Revolutionary period. Their imprint on colonial currency is rare for its clarity of attribution.
The nature print border — made by inking an actual leaf or plant material and pressing it directly onto the plate — was Benjamin Franklin's anti-counterfeiting innovation, adopted across several colonial emissions precisely because no hand engraver could replicate the cellular structure of a real leaf.