Colonial Currency — Pennsylvania — 10 Shillings — October 1, 1773

Updated on March 5, 2026: This has been sold.

No. 23520

Dated October 1, 1773

Printed by Hall and Sellers, which took over printing from Benjamin Franklin. It was Franklin who is credited with the idea of printing on paper embedded with flakes of mica. (You can see the reflection in the last photo.)

The paper was manufactured at Ivy Mills in Pennsylvania, which supplied both Pennsylvania state notes and Continental Currency.

Signed by . .

• Joseph Pemberton —  The son of Israel Pemberton, a prominent Quaker and one of the richest merchants in Philadelphia. Joseph was a Quaker sugar and Madeira port merchant. After the Second Continental Congress cut back on British imports, Pemberton went bankrupt.
• Benjamin Marshall — Born 14 Oct 1737 in Philadelphia and died 29 Jan 1778 at age 40 in Philadelphia.
  
• Thomas Leech — Thomas Leech (c. 1686–1762), clerk of the Assembly, 1723–27; member of the Assembly, 1730–50, 1756–62; an original trustee of the Academy; vestryman and warden of Christ Church. A short but conveniently timed illness led the Quaker Isaac Norris to resign as speaker and Leech was elected in his place, Jan. 2, 1758, in time to preside over the Assembly “trial” of his fellow Anglican William Smith.

The note is enclosed in a 4" x 6" freestanding Lucite frame to protect the currency while allowing you to display it standing or flat. The two pieces of Lucite are held together with magnets, which makes it easy to remove the currency for a closer inspection or to frame in a different manner or to store.

Note that the manufacturer claims UV protection, but I haven't seen any technical report, so recommend keeping them out of direct sunlight.

Shipping: $10. Please allow two weeks for shipping.

Historical background

More information on printing colonial currency, including Franklin's role in innovations to combat counterfeiting, is discussed in this article from the Mineralogical Society of the District of Columbia.