Early Paper Money of America / Massachusetts / 1741/42 January 15

Early Paper Money of America (NNP Edition)|

£30,000 in a legal tender issue of Second New Tenor bills equal to £120,000 of the Old Tenor bills and sometimes referred to as New Tenor bills. The continuance of inflationary problems required many new low denominations and payment in silver or gold coin for all bills. By the Jan. 15, 1741/42 Act three face plates were to be engraved, the four highest denominations on the “first plate,” the next four highest on the “second plate” and the lowest six denominations on the “third plate.” The backs of the lowest six denominations contain woodcut borders previously used on the face of the 1737 small change issue. The backs of the eight highest denominations contain the initials K and G for the printers, Kneeland and Green. All backs are typeset and include the date and the value in Old Tenor. Signers were J. Choate, Roland Cotton, Samuel Watts, and J. Willard.

This issue and the following two issues contain both the English Arms and the Massachusetts Arms. The word “Bay” is omitted from Massachusetts Arms on some denominations.

2d (12 gr.) Circle Very Fine $13800 Stack’s May, 2004
4d (1 dwt.) Square
6d (1 dwt., 12 gr.) Hexagon
8d (2 dwt.) Octagon
1s (3 dwt.) Oval
2s (6 dwt.) Square with concave corners Fair $1380 Stack’s May, 2004
3s (9 dwt.)
4s (12 dwt.)
5s (15 dwt.)
10s (1 oz., 10dwt.)
15s (2 oz., 5 dwt.)
20s (3 oz.)  ▷PR◁   $4887 Stack’s May, 2004
30s (4 oz., 10 dwt.)
40s (6 oz.)