Craven County Digital History Exhibit

NC c1748 3 Pounds

 Accession Number TP.2000.017.007

Title

North Carolina paper currency, value three pounds

 

Maker

[James Davis]

 

Material

Ink on laid paper

 

Origin

North Carolina, New Bern

 

Date:

After 1748-04-04

 

Dimensions:

OH: 2 ½” (6.4 cm); OW:  4 ¾” (12.1 cm)

 

Description:

Engraved three-pound note issued in North Carolina. Printed from engraved copper plate with scrolled leaf border on left edge and Fort Johnson and Union Jack in a circle on lower left corner. Printed inscription: “North Carolina/ £3 Three Pounds Proclamation/ Mony [sic] According to Act of Assembly/ Pass’d the 4th of April 1748.” Bill is numbered in upper right corner: “773.” Signed in ink on obverse: “John Starkey [very faint],” “E. Moseley”/ “Eleazr Allen” “Saml Swann.” In ink on reverse: “Recd of Francis/ Kennedy Esqr ,” “James Qullen (?),”  “Leigh to G,” “J Halsey to JB.” Bill 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.”

Obverse Image
Reverse Image

Images scanned by Dean Knight
Text prepared by Nancy Richards and Victor T. Jones, Jr.

Last edited: August 21, 2018

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