Updated on March 8, 2026: This has been sold.
The binder contains seven original documents from the so-called Connecticut State House Hoard, primarily promissory notes and bonds dating to the Revolutionary period. Included are explanatory pages and a signed letter from Breen describing the history of the collection.
The hoard consisted of colonial documents discovered in the Connecticut State House, representing one of the largest surviving groups of financial records connected to the American Revolution. The material was divided into approximately 200 albums, each containing different combinations of documents.
These papers reflect the everyday financial workings of the Revolutionary era—notes, bonds, and other instruments tied to the funding of the war and the support of Continental soldiers, officers, and suppliers.
Note that these original documents are inserted loosely into the portfolio so they can easily be removed for closer examination or two frame, and there is an explanatory note for each.
Here are the documents:
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Pay slip for John Robertson signed by Oliver Ellsworth, a member of the Constitutional Convention who was instrumental in effecting the "Connecticut Compromise," which instituted a bicameral legislature. This created a balance between the small and large states. He was later the third Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Date appears to be June 12, 1776.
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Reimbursement to Ralph Pomeroy, Paymaster, for expenses for supplies for the Continental Army. Date appears to be December 26, 1781. You can find online correspondence between Pomeroy and Washington.
"Ralph Pomeroy was the son of Rev. Benjamin Pomeroy and Abigail Wheelock and the nephew of Eleazar Wheelock. Although he was not as involved in Wheelock's mission as his father, he still had close ties to Moor's Indian Charity School. After graduating from the College of New Jersey in 1758 (unlike his brother Josiah, Ralph did not attend Moor's), he was the master at Moor's for a year. Following this tenure, he studied law and became, in effect, Wheelock's lawyer on retainer. During the war, Ralph was a paymaster in the Continental Army. He remained involved in state politics, acting as State Controller after the war. Ralph appears in a letter from Brainerd to Wheelock on March 23, 1757, quoted in McCallum, about a religious revival at the College of New Jersey." Source: Dartmouth Libraries
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Order to pay for supplies and services performed for the Army and the State. Signed by Oliver Wolcott, Jr., whose father was one of the signers of the Declaration. He later became Secretary of the Treasury in the cabinets of Washington and Adams. Appears to be dated January 26, 1780.
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Pay-Table Office note countersigned by Jedidiah Huntington, Major General in the Continental Army. Huntington was present in New York in 1776 and helped cover the retreat from the battle of Long Island. Dated March 13, 1783.
- Interest paying bond from the State of Connecticut that was cancelled, as indicated by the hole. Though stated that payment would be made in gold and silver, bondholders were paid in paper currency. Note in the border: "Given for money" (at the top) and "State of Connecticut" (bottom).
- Another Interest paying bond from the State of Connecticut that was cancelled, as indicated by the hole. Also promising to pay in gold in silver. Note in the border: "For the payment of" (top) and "the Connecticut line" (bottom).
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Note to pay interest on a bond. Signed by Ralph Pomeroy. Dated November 5, 1789.
From the commentary: "It was about 1800 before the debts to the soldiers were paid, and then with Western lands, primarily in Ohio."
Portfolio size: 11.5" x 9"
Shipping: $15. Please allow two weeks for shipping.
Transcript of cover letter
FIRST COINVESTORS, INC.
Far be it from me to vary the WALTER BREEN TYPE COIN PROGRAM.
Nevertheless, when the collection I will tell you about below first was presented for sale to the President of my Company, I insisted that it be made available to you.
And so, for the moment, I am stretching the program named for me. In view of the importance of the material offered, I hope you will agree that it is worth your attention.
Colonial documents from the Revolutionary War period are very scarce and seldom seen. By sheer accident, the CONNECTICUT STATE HOUSE HOARD was the largest and only collection of such material remaining from that period in history.
The entire collection was placed into 200 albums, no two being identical, though each contains most of the general types of items seen in the one offered to you. This exhausts the hoard and no more can be made available.
The documents in this book are not permanently sealed into their pages for a very special reason. In order to appreciate them fully, you must become part of them. Take them out from their album pages. Hold them, examine them, feel the texture of the paper, decipher the time-aged scrawls, note the signers (including some figures very important in the American Revolution), imagine the simple day to day functions that they represented and which became so significant in our national history. Imagine the trials and tribulations endured and overcome by their writers and their recipients—Continental soldiers, officers, suppliers of war material, patriots willing to invest hard-earned Spanish dollars in their state's Revolutionary cause, and many more: "History in your hand" even more than with the average coin.
As a coffee-table album, or as a series suitable for framing, as a reminder of our early American antecedents, as an heirloom for your youngsters, and most certainly as an "investable," this collection will succeed on all counts.
I know you will enjoy this collection for many years to come. If for any reason you would rather not try it, preferring to obtain a "regular" coin for this month instead, feel absolutely free to return the album to your Coin Advisor who will see to it that your full cost for postage and insurance is immediately refunded.
Very truly yours,
Walter Breen
F.C.I. BUILDING · 200 I U. WILLETS ROAD · ALBERTSON, NEW YORK 11507 · TEL. 516/294-0040
