SUPERB EXAMPLE OF AN EIGHTEEN PENCE COLONIAL NEW JERSEY NOTE SIGNED BY SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE ~ JOHN HART ~1776

HART, JOHN. (1711-1779).  Signer of Declaration of Independence from New Jersey. [American Revolution].    A beautifully engraved colonial currency note printed in red and black for “Eighteen Pence”  — signed by Hart, as Member of the New Jersey Provincial Congress.  One page, approx 4 x 2.25 inches.  Burlington, New Jersey: Isaac Collins, 1776.  No. 11736.  It reads: “This Bill is One Shilling and Six-Pence Proclamation, is emitted by a Law of the Colony of New-Jersey, passed in the Fourteenth Year of the Reign of his Majesty King George the Third. Dated March 25, 1776.”  It is countersigned by Jonathan Johnston and John Stevens Junior, Treasurer of New Jersey and a successful inventor. The verso contains a print of a leaf, and the delightfully ominous phrase “To counterfeit is Death.”

John Hart was probably born in Connecticut. Upon inheriting his father’s successful New Jersey farm, he established himself quickly as a prominent member of the local community. He was elected to the New Jersey Assembly in 1761, and successfully remained until it was dissolved in 1771. He then served on the local Committee of Safety, the Committee of Correspondence, and as a judge in the Court of Common Pleas before being elected to the new Provincial Congress of New Jersey in 1776. This position secured him a place in both the first and second Continental Congress, where he ultimately became a Signer of the Declaration of Independence.

This note is in superb condition, and was part of a collection of Signers that was assembled in the 1920’s, and thus is in much finer condition then most examples that have come to market recently.   Just a wonderful example for the collector of Americana, Signers, or colonial currency. 

 

$2500.00