Currency, Paper Money and Bills of Credit, 1780-1807 with gaps

Close-up of the State Seal on currency note, 1783

Counterfeit Bank Notes, 1796-1806

The most circulated coin was the Spanish milled dollar. Minted in the rich Spanish colonies of Mexico and Peru since the 1500s, the one ounce silver coin had a milled, or patterned, edge to prevent dishonest merchants from shaving its edges. When colonies began to print their own money, they often denominated it in “Spanish milled dollars” rather than pounds.