New Oldest American Banknote

[scottishmoney]

A very rare note, not even priced in the Newman Colonial Paper Money book, printed by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia, when he was the only one working in his printing shop, and not in a partnership with William Hall.  This note is for Twenty Shillings, a £1 note.  A fairly sizable sum of money during that time. 



Not a particularly pretty note, and probably one of the lowest grade notes I have in my collection, but a very very rare note, printed by an American patriot, and bought at auction for a whopping $100!

[KurtS]

Condition is immaterial to me...what a wonderful piece of history to own, and to imagine it passing through his hands!    Did Franklin sign these notes? I see two faded signatures.

[scottishmoney]

Condition is immaterial to me...what a wonderful piece of history to own, and to imagine it passing through his hands!    Did Franklin sign these notes? I see two faded signatures.

No, he was just the printer.  The signatures I can make out of this are John Clowes(1730-1790) a justice of the Delaware Supreme Court from 1781-1790 - 16 year old signer? and Hugh Durborrow(1688-1755)  The middle signature is faded to the point at which it cannot be discerned anymore.

[AdamL]

Absolutely awesome! A whopping $100??? Any chance of you selling it to me for a profit of a whopping $20?

[scottishmoney]

Absolutely awesome! A whopping $100??? Any chance of you selling it to me for a profit of a whopping $20?

Another one in similar condition sold last night for $138.  A sign that the economy is going south, prices on very rare stuff are unimaginably low lately.

[AdamL]

Absolutely awesome! A whopping $100??? Any chance of you selling it to me for a profit of a whopping $20?

Another one in similar condition sold last night for $138.  A sign that the economy is going south, prices on very rare stuff are unimaginably low lately.

Very interesting.

[EgCollector]

I am not into note collecting but this is very interesting
Thanks for sharing 

[CoinCrusader42]

As a former teacher of United States history, I certainly appreciate the note.

What a great piece of history.

 

[ElleKitty]

I'd place money that instead of a counterfieting prevention, that white stripe is something along the lines of fabric tape; meant to hold that poor battered piece of history together.  At it's age, it's going to need a little help. That note is older than any of us by what, 200-250 years?  He started printing these things in the 1720s?

[scottishmoney]

The white strip is a piece of fibre, cotton based with bio-organic adhesives that are water soluble.  Unfortunately an awful lot of split paper from the 17-18th century got taped together with scotch tape during the 20th century, and guess what? 

Scotch tape eventually breaks down, the adhesive chemicals in the glues absorb into the paper, making clear spots and ruining the eye appeal.

If something is professionally conserved, they take the approach like using natural fibre based materiel with organic adhesives that are water soluble so that it can be taken off at a later time if desired without affecting the historic document, currency etc.

I have an old book from Scotland that was printed in 1806 that I put part of the cover back on using a paste made with a small amount of water and plain old baker's flour.  Baker's flour combined with water makes a decent binding agent for books etc. and is easily removable of course.

[CoinCrusader42]

I just happened on this thread this evening -- The Fourth of July!!

I've already posted once, but again, what a historically significant note, tattered though it is.