NNP

$487,500 (£195,000) in legal tender Bills of Credit payable in Spanish milled dollars with 5% interest on Dec. 31, 1786 pursuant to the June 15, June 30, Oct. 7, 1780 and Mar. 27, 1781 Acts. Guaranteed by the United States according to the Resolution of Congress of Mar. 18, 1780. The amount of the issue was only $70,625 and was based upon $2,825,000 in Continental Currency exchanged at $40 (old) for $1 (new). Abraham Yates, Jr., claimed that he counted, punched and packed this sum for which he charged the prescribed commission of Y8% or $3,531 in specie dollars. The Continental Congress reduced his claim on Oct. 9, 1787 to $111 in specie dollars by valuing the Continental Currency at its depreciated value when he received it. The face is in black and the back is in red and black. Printed by Hall & Sellers in Philadelphia on mica flaked paper watermarked CONFEDE in one line and RATION below. The face border cuts and the back cuts surrounding the emblems were engraved by Henry Dawkins. The border cuts and the emblems on the back were from the Jan. 14, 1779 issue of Continental Currency. See the Mar. 27, 1781 issue for the balance of the emission. Signers were Evert Bancker, Reynard Mynderse, and Henry Rutgers. The guaranty is signed by Abraham Yates, Jr.

Differences between the genuine and counterfeit $20 bills of this issue are in the appendix under ”Description of Circulating Counterfeits”. However, due to unusual features of the $20 denomination as to its redemption and its two types of forged watermarks, further comment seems appropriate. Some $20 counterfeits are hole-punched, which shows that they were redeemed and cancelled by the issuing authorities along with the genuine bills and apparently not in error. The authorities sometimes adopted a practice of redeeming counterfeits along with genuine pieces (1) in order to avoid public rejection of the issue as a whole; (2) in order to obtain prompt information as to the existence or source of counterfeits; and (3) and/or prevent a holder from passing a counterfeit to someone else rather than taking a personal loss.

The paper used for the $20 counterfeits for this issue was crude, containing misspelled forged watermarks in two lines reading “CONFED” over the top of “RATION”, omitting the second “E”. Some of the forged watermarks are found with each “N” in normal position while others are found with each “N” in a mirror image. This proves that the position of some elements of the lettering for the watermarks were moved or changed in applying on top of the paper-making screen to prevent the flowing slurry from depositing under the lettering so as to make the paper thinner in that area. 

$1 [1,413]
$2 [1,413]
$3 [1,413]
$4 [1,413]
$5 [1,413]
$7 [1,413]
$8 [1,413]
$20 [1,413] ▷CF◁