Issue of April 1, 1773 James River Bank

The Greysheet Catalog (GSID) of the Issue of April 1, 1773 James River Bank series of Virginia Colonial Currency in the U.S. Currency contains 5 distinct entries with CPG® values between $700.00 and $3,800.00.

In an emergency arising out of the discovery in Jan. 1773 of an extensive circulation of deceptive counterfeits of the Treasury Notes authorized Nov. 1769 and July 1771 those issues were recalled for immediate exchange by the Act of Mar. 4, 1773. Treasurer’s Promissory Notes in the sum of £36,384 without legal tender status were approved for the exchange and were payable by Dec. 10, 1775. The best available currency paper was the engraved forms previously brought to Virginia from England by Col. Thomas Tabb for circulating notes to be issued by a proposed private bank to be named James River Bank. The Crown refused to approve the bank. The forms were accepted by the Virginia Assembly for use as indented Promissory Notes of the Virginia Treasury on condition that the backs were printed and on condition that other notes on English paper would be substituted by June 1, 1774 for the forms to be initially issued. The faces of the James River Bank forms were filled in by hand using parentheses to eliminate inapplicable text. The backs were printed with the denomination and a typeset border. The notes were indented on the left side; being cut away from “books” of 100 bills each. The number assigned to each “book” of bills is written above and the serial number below. Signers were John Blair, B. Dandridge, Robert Carter Nicholas, and Peyton Randolph.