Issue of July 17, 1775

The Greysheet Catalog (GSID) of the Issue of July 17, 1775 series of Virginia Colonial Currency in the U.S. Currency contains 13 distinct entries with CPG® values between $100.00 and $8,000.00.

Small Size Notes: £350,000 in Treasury Notes redeemable by Jan. 1, 1784 were authorized at the July 17, 1775 Richmond Convention. New designs and different paper were required. Heavy rag paper containing blue fibers was obtained and used. Borders, Arms, and text were separately engraved and combined for printing by William Waddill and by Robert Scot, who later became the first engraver for the first U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. Test proofs of the borders and Arms for the 1s3d and 2s6d have the Arms on the left instead of the right side and have the side borders positioned in the same manner as the May 6, 1776 issue rather than that of this July 17, 1775 issue. There was insufficient paper available to start the emission and at first 1773 Ashby forms were used and then James River Bank forms. Signers were John Burnell, John Dixon, Philip Johnson, Henry King, George Lyne, John H. Norton, William Norvell, John Pendleton, Josiah Parker, Edmund Randolph, and John Tazewell. One signer appears for the two lowest denominations and two signers for the others.

Large Size Notes: After the supply of new rag paper for the small notes prepared under the July 17, 1775 Ordinance was exhausted, the use “of other proper paper to make up the deficiency” was approved at the Dec. 1775 Session. Since some note forms engraved by Henry (Harry) Ashby were left over from the Sept. 1773 emission, such forms were used by filling in appropriate text in ink and by eliminating inapplicable portions by the use of parentheses. Signers were Philip Johnson, William Norvell, and John Tazewell. Countersigned on the back by Robert Carter Nicholas.