Early Paper Money of America / Massachusetts / 1776 October 18

Early Paper Money of America (NNP Edition)|

£75,000 in legal tender “Codfish” Bills due Oct. 18, 1784 and authorized by the Dec. 7, 1776 Act. The face plate for the twelve lowest denominations was engraved by Paul Revere and featured a codfish in the border design and the bills are small in size. The backs of the twelve lowest denominations are printed from set type and a cast cut of a pine tree. Nathaniel Hurd began to engrave both the face plates and the back cuts for the twelve highest denominations, but they were apparently completed by Revere. The backs of the twelve highest denominations include three border cuts, one central cut of a pine tree surrounded by OMNE TULIT PUNCTUM QUI MISCUIT UTILE DULCI (He won all the praise who mixed the useful with the sweet) and some set type. UTILE DULCI in the motto had been previously used in the motto on the 1722-1724 Rosa Americana coinage. Revere printed only the engraved faces and John Gill printed the backs of all bills. The twelve highest denominations were called in by the Act of Oct. 13, 1777 for exchange into notes by Jan. 1, 1778, but this was extended by the Act of Dec. 13, 1777 to April 1, 1778. The twelve highest denominations contained dollar equivalents while the twelve lowest denominations did not. Signers were Nehemiah Abbot, Nathan Adams, Nathaniel Barber, D.C. Brown, David Cheever, William Drew, Jonathan Hastings, Thomas Ivers, Dummer Jewett, George Partridge, Ezra Sergeant, and Jonathan Wood.

2d [5,143]
3d [5,143]
4d [5,143]
6d [5,143]
8d [5,143]
9d [5,143]
12d (1s) [5,143]
1s6d [5,143]
2s [5,143]
3s [5,143]
4s [5,143]
4s6d [5,143]

6s ($1) [3,000]
12s ($2) [3,000] Extremely Fine $9,200 Stack’s May, 2005 
18s ($3) [3,000] Very Fine $7,475 Stack’s May, 2005
24s ($4) [3,000]
30s ($5) [3,000] Uncirculated $29,900 Stack’s May, 2005
36s ($6) [3,000]
42s ($7) [3,000]
48s ($8) [3,000] Extremely Fine $10,350 Stack’s May, 2005
54s ($9) [3,000]
60s ($10) [3,000]
66s ($11) [3,000]
72s ($12) [3,000] Extremely Fine $11,500 Stack’s May, 2005