NC c1748 15 Shillings

Title

North Carolina paper currency, value fifteen shillings

Maker

[James Davis]

Material

Ink on paper

Origin

North Carolina, New Bern

Date:

After 1748-04-04

Dimensions:

OH: 2 ½” (6.4 cm); OW: 5” (12.7 cm)

Description:

Engraved fifteen-shilling note issued by North Carolina. Printed from engraved copper plate with scrolled leafage and shell border on left edge and standing lion in a circle on lower left corner. Printed inscription: “North Carolina/ XV s Fifteen Shillings/ Proclamation Mony [sic] according to Act of/ Assembly pass’d the 4^th of April 1748.” Signed in ink on obverse: “E Mosley” Note: Other signatures are illegible and serial number is torn off. Mathematical calculation in ink on reverse: “15.6/ 8. //6.6.” Printed on very thin stock, the note was folded in quarters.

Donor:

Anonymous

Relation:

This is part of 54-piece gift of North Carolina paper currency issued between 1748 and 1771 from the same anonymous donor.

Comments:

Although the engraving is unsigned, the printer of the 1748-issue bills is probably James Davis (1721-1785), North Carolina’s first printer. Davis arrived from Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1749 to fill the post of public printer, an office created that year by the Assembly to print a revisal of the colony’s laws. He set up his printing shop in New Bern. His first job was printing currency for the province. The revised laws were not printed until 1751.

The bill was issued in a series of 2,000.

Language:

En

Rights:

Permission to use the photograph must be obtained in writing from Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens, New Bern, North Carolina. It must be accompanied by the caption” From the collection of Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens, New Bern, North Carolina; North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archive and History.”