{"product_id":"benjamin-franklin-printed-pennsylvania-colonial-currency-1757-fifteen-shillings","title":"Benjamin Franklin–Printed Pennsylvania Colonial Currency, 1757 — Fifteen Shillings","description":"\u003cp dir=\"auto\" class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\"\u003eAn exceptionally early example of American colonial paper money printed by \u003cstrong\u003eBenjamin Franklin and his partner David Hall\u003c\/strong\u003e nearly twenty years before the Declaration of Independence.\u003cspan class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchor\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eThese two mounted pieces display the face and reverse designs of Pennsylvania’s \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 1, 1757 fifteen-shillings currency issue\u003c\/strong\u003e, cataloged as \u003cstrong\u003eFriedberg PA-87\u003c\/strong\u003e. Authorized during the reign of King George II, these bills circulated in colonial Pennsylvania during the French and Indian War.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eThe face displays the denomination “FIFTEEN SHILLINGS,” Pennsylvania legal-tender language, three crown symbols, the Penn family arms and remnants of the handwritten serial number and signatures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eThe reverse incorporates an elaborate nature-print leaf—one of Benjamin Franklin’s most ingenious anti-counterfeiting devices. The surviving text includes the memorable warning \u003cstrong\u003e“To Counterfeit is Death”\u003c\/strong\u003e and the printer’s imprint \u003cstrong\u003e“Printed by B. Franklin and D. Hall.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eFranklin created nature prints by taking impressions from actual leaves, capturing their complicated vein structures in extraordinary detail. These virtually unique patterns made the notes much harder for eighteenth-century counterfeiters to reproduce.C\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eonsiderable toning, fading, surface abrasion, fold separation, edge losses and mounting residue. Nevertheless, they remain identifiable examples of an important and scarce Franklin-printed colonial currency issue.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eColony:\u003c\/strong\u003e Pennsylvania\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDate:\u003c\/strong\u003e July 1, 1757\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDenomination:\u003c\/strong\u003e Fifteen Shillings\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrinters:\u003c\/strong\u003e Benjamin Franklin and David Hall\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCatalog number:\u003c\/strong\u003e Friedberg PA-87\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e Poor and heavily impaired; mounted and backed as pictured\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Signature Documents LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52902333808922,"sku":null,"price":1277.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2221\/0931\/files\/IMG_3150.jpg?v=1789668464","url":"https:\/\/www.thearchiveauthority.com\/en-ca\/products\/benjamin-franklin-printed-pennsylvania-colonial-currency-1757-fifteen-shillings","provider":"Signature Documents LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}