Catalog
80 Dollars 'Continental Currency' - United States
| Issuer | Continental Congress of the United States |
|---|---|
| Year | 1779 |
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| Designer(s) | Hall and Sellers |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Eighty Dollars. THE BEARER is entitled to RECEIVE EIGHTY SPANISH milled DOLLARS, or an equal Sum in GOLD or SILVER, according to a Resolution of CONGRESS of the 14th JANUARY, 1779. Eighty Dollars. THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA ET IN SECULA SECULORUM FLORESCEBIT |
| Reverse description | The reverse carries a nature-printed vignette of a strawberry leaf rendered in fine botanical detail, produced by direct impression of an actual leaf to deter counterfeiting, set within a plain rectangular border. The denomination 'Eighty Dollars.' appears in script at upper right, and the printer's imprint is set in small letterpress type along the left margin. The overall surface exhibits the characteristic coarse texture of the laid paper used for Continental Currency issues. |
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| Comments |
By 1779, Continental Currency had collapsed in real terms — the phrase "not worth a Continental" was already entering common speech. This $80 denomination reflects the inflationary spiral directly: earlier emissions had topped out at $30, but purchasing power had eroded so badly that larger face values became necessary just to cover ordinary transactions. Congress authorized $200 million in new emissions that year, a decision that accelerated the very devaluation it was meant to address.
Hall and Sellers used nature-printed leaf patterns as a primary counterfeit deterrent — a technique Benjamin Franklin had pioneered decades earlier at the same Philadelphia press. No two leaves are identical, which made duplication virtually impossible with 18th-century technology.