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Treasury of Pennsylvania. Act of March 21, 1783. Twelve Dollars
From Stack's October 2006 Atlanta Auction on Oct 4, 2006
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 Treasury of Pennsylvania. Act of March 21, 1783. Twelve Dollars. No.543. Signed by (at the lower left) Tho.[mas] Smith and at the lower right by Dav.[id] Rittenhouse. 135mm by 70mm. Uniface, printed on tissue thin laid paper with watermark, 'INTEREST/25', at the top of the paper. Indented bill with ornate repeating pattern at the left and ornamental pattern along the top edge. At the top left, the serial number position and at the top right 'Twelve DOLLARS.' In the centers, textual obligation in four lines: 'The Bearer is entitled to receive TWELVE DOLLARS, Specie, at the Treasury of Pennsylvania, after/the First Day of July, 1784, according to Act of Assembly, passed/the Twenty First Day of March 1783.' At the lower left in Gothic font, 'Twelve Dollars'.
An incredible Specie Bill that acted as a Post Note. These were authorized in eight different denominations from $1/4 to $20. Listed in Newman, page 359. Anderson/Smythe PA-10 Rarity 8. The note is signed by David Rittenhouse, financier, important Philadelphian, and future director of the United States Mint. A truly wonderful note that ties to both the fiscal forms of the early American independent period and Colonial currency. This was an important Post-Revolution fiscal instrument that was certainly subscribed to by many of the Philadelphia and other patriotic elite to support Pennsylvania after the war. As such, worthy of seeing spirited bidding.
Although this issue is not up to the grandeur of the 1782 Bank of North America $100 note we sold in January, 2005 at the Ford VIII Sale (nearly $38,000 realized with the buyers charge), this is a very significant fiscal instrument.
The Smythe Catalogue listings in the William Anderson volume lists only three known denominations and only published a second hand plate image of the Newman Plate Note (Ford-Boyd Collection, Ford X Sale, May 2005, lot 4788). Each denomination is listed as a Rarity 8 (1-3 known) and it is likely that as a series there might be less than five known of all denominations combined. Several might be impounded in museums.
Overall, Good or so. Frail and weak paper as made which easily wore, but 85% of the paper is there. Central voids and edge splitting is reinforced from the back with paper strips and patches. The signature quality is not great with significant voids and perhaps older ink corrosion. However, very collectible due to the high rarity. We had never seen or catalogued one before until last year's Ford X Sale. That note, very choice, saw exceptional bidding excitement. Worth much less than the $13,800.00 that note realized, but still a very solid four-figure note.
Very few fiscal paper or Colonial currency collectors own any example from this issue. One of the major rarities listed in Newman and Anderson/Smythe and extremely important. The opportunity to purchase a note from this issue may not pass your way again for another generation.
Ex F.C.C. Boyd Estate.
Born to farmer parents near Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1732, David Rittenhouse rose to be one of America's greatest early scientists, patriots and government functionaries and was mourned by all America upon his death in 1796.
Rittenhouse is perhaps most revered, with Franklin, as one of America's preeminent early scientists. A clock maker by trade, he is most famous for his diverse scientific studies and efforts, ranging from participation in the 1763 survey of the Pennsylvania-Maryland border that later was incorporated into Mason and Dixon's official survey of that state line; measurement of the transits of Venus and Mercury in 1769; and the building of two great orreries, which are mechanical planetaria, the most famous of which is still extant in the collection of Princeton University.
Rittenhouse's interests and skills evidently extended to currency as well, as he is known to have engraved the border cuts for the 6 pound notes on New Jersey's March 25, 1776 emission (see lots 4767 and 4768) and according to Newman, designed and engraved the border cuts for the May 10, 1775 issue of Continental Currency.
The portion of Rittenhouse's life that concerns numismatists most is his later involvement in public service, including his tenure as First Director of the United States Mint (1792-1795) at the end of his life. A member of Philadelphia's Committee of Safety and of Pennsylvania's constitutional convention, Rittenhouse served a long stint as Pennsylvania's Treasurer (1777-1789). Despite war and political turmoil, he kept Pennsylvania's accounts quite ably. With the Treasury constantly in fiscal crisis,
Rittenhouse was charged with the constant fight to keep Pennsylvania solvent amid inflation, depreciation of Continental and state currencies, the ongoing difficulties with tax collection, counterfeiting, embezzlement, and outright theft. Bills such as the one in this lot were issued in this constant battle against insolvency, and Rittenhouse signed these bills in his role as State Treasurer.
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