Pennsylvania Currency
March 10, 1769
An emission of £14,000 in bills of credit to be used for poor relief, and known as "Bettering house money." When redeemed the bills were exchanged at the treasury for current bills of credit. The redemption was financed through contributions to the fund for the "Relief and Employment of the Poor in the City of Philadelphia." Denominations through 2s6d have blank backs, while the 5s and above have nature prints on the back. All notes have the Penn family arms. As with several other notes from this period the text states they are indented but they were not. Printed by David Hall and William Sellers in Philadelphia. This is the third emission by Hall and Sellers. The 3d-9d have plates A-C, 1s-2s and 5s have plates A-D, and the 2s6d note comes in plates A and B. Throughout the denominations the spelling of the colony name "Pennsylvania" is found in various forms. This is the continuation of an anti-counterfeiting measure used by Franklin and Hall. The 3d-9d denominations are smaller in size. Denominations issued were: 3d, 4d, 6d, 9d, 1s, 18d, 2s, 2s6d, 5s, 10s, 15s and 20s.obv
9d Serial Number: 14,120 Plate C PA 03/10/69
Signer: Abel James.
Size: 66 x 75mm (front border design: 64 x 71mm).
Comments: Penn family arms with thew motto "Mercy Justice" in a scroll at the bottom of the arms. The colony name has various spellings in this issue, on this denomination it appears in its current form "Pennsylvania ". Click here to view the blank back.
Provenance: Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment from the EANA mail bid auction of 04/20/96, lot 537.
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2s Serial Number: 17,421 Plate A PA 03/10/69
Signers: Stephen Collins, Luke Morris and James Penrose.
Size: 74 x 89mm (front border design: 71 x 87mm).
Comments: Penn family arms with thew motto "Mercy Justice" in a scroll at the bottom of the arms. The colony name has various spellings in this issue, on this denomination it appears as "Pensilvania". Click here to view the blank back.
Provenance: Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment from the EAHA mail bid auction of 03/28/98, lot 361, graded Very Fine.
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20s Serial Number: 831 PA 03/10/69
Signers: James Penrose, Stephen Collins and Luke Morris.
Size: 83 x 90mm (front border design: vertical dimension is 77 x 88mm; back border design: vertical dimension is trimmed off at bottom, horizontal dimension is 85mm).
Comments: Penn family arms with thew motto "Mercy Justice" in a scroll at the bottom of the arms. Above the arms the denomination is keyed to four crowns. The colony name has various spellings in this issue, on this denomination it appears in its current form "Pennsylvania ". The back has a nature print consisting of three fern branches with the roman numeral XX in white at the base of the bottom branch.
Provenance: Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment from the EANA mail bid auction of 1/13/96, lot 436.
