 Province of Pennsylvania. June 15, 1767. Uncut Vertical Strip of Three Notes. Unnumbered and unsigned. The upper right corner of what was a ten note sheet, Two Pounds/Four Pounds/Six Pounds, plate positions B, A, and C respectively. Blue Counterfeit Detector or ''Proof'' Impressions. 166mm by 225mm. Printed on blue laid paper stock similar to that used for detector notes on the Continental Currency series by Hall & Sellers with their imprint on each note's back. The faces with four border cuts enclosing the texts. At the lower right of the Two Pounds and Six Pounds is the Penn Family Arms. The left ends are not indents, but fully margined. Each back has two different nature print designs adjacent to each other with the imprint below and counterfeit warning at the right or left depending on the denomination.
This is the first Hall and Sellers (successors to Franklin and Hall) imprint bills for the Province. The issue date is extremely rare and this detector strip or as Newman refers to them ''Test Bills'' is of the highest rarity. We have never seen these detectors before and on a scale of rarity of such items, this is up there with the Marble Edge Continental detector note we sold in the Ford Part VIII Sale in January, 2005.
However, now that the great rarity introduction has been established, the truly amazing begins. This block of three different denominations, complete for the issue Act, is from the presentation ''Proof Sheet'' to the Assembly by Hall and Sellers. At the upper left wide margin is the following brown inked endorsement: ''Proof Sheet for the/Provincial Treasurer/not to be signed'' accomplished in bold cursive with bold end flourish. An astonishing presentation that evokes the Colonial era bustling streets of Philadelphia and a bonded messenger or Hall or Sellers themselves bringing this over to the Assembly for their inspection. This was handled by some of Philadelphia's finest and perhaps even Benjamin Franklin himself. This is yet another incredible item from the Ford-Boyd Colonial Currency Collection that will capture the imagination of all who view or study it.
Condition is not a paramount consideration in formulating a potentially successful bidding strategy. Full wide sheet margin at the right and narrower at the top. Overall, Very Fine or so. There are some body holes across the top right of the strip affecting the Two Pounds note. However the rest of the corner block shows normal handling and gutter folds seen on strips of this genre. The top left wide margin is chipped near the top left margin line, but not touching. The bottom two impressions are basically Choice Extremely Fine or better. A fabulous Pennsylvania Colonial item. Unique in this form and to the right collectors, priceless!
Printed in sheets of ten notes with the Two Pounds having plate letters A-B, the Four Pounds with A and B plate letters, and the Six Pounds using the A-B plate letter arrangement. Doing the math, 500 Sheets of notes to be issued would have been printed to create the authorization published in Newman.
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