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United States of America - Continental Loan Office in the State of New York Fourth of Exchange for $30/150 Livres Tournois, Pa...
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Description
United States of America - Continental Loan Office in the State of New York Fourth of Exchange for $30/150 Livres Tournois, Payable at Paris July 8(?), 1779 Anderson US-97-8A. PMG Choice Very Fine 35.The Continental Loan Office certificates comprise a series of United States obligations collected with Colonial American currency and United States Federal Loans. These Bill of Exchange certificates were denominated in dollars and European equivalents depending on whether they were ultimately payable abroad or domestically at an authorized location. They represented the interest payments due for "Money borrowed by the United States" from the federal loan sales made at individual state loan offices as noted at the lower left of the obligations. They were printed in sheets of four "Bills," from a "First" at the top to a "Fourth" at the bottom. One or more could be sent simultaneously as necessary for payment abroad. Upon redemption of a First Bill, the other three would be void. According to William G. Anderson in his book The Price of Liberty-The Public Debt of the American Revolution, "If the first bill was lost or captured at sea ... the holder would then send the second bill; if it too was lost, he would send the third, and so on. In several instances, Congress authorized duplicate sets issued when all four had been lost at sea ..." The majority of surviving examples seen today are either Third or Fourth Bills like this piece.
This New York certificate is representative of the most commonly encountered "at Paris" series and is printed on laid paper, watermarked "United States 4." The exchange bill numeral is incorporated into the watermark for counterfeit deterrence. (According to author and collector Ned W. Downing, the molds for the watermarked laid paper were fashioned by Nathan Sellers, who was released from military service for this purpose. See Transatlantic Paper and the Emergence of the American Capital Market in The Origins of Value, 2003.) The common layout for all four Bills has black typeset titles, obligations, denominations, and blanks for issuance. Ornamental bordering is at right. The left and top borders as well as the title Treasr of Loans are printed in aqua. The indenting design is at left, with the denomination at top left and the serial block in the upper right corner. No. 1105 appears to have been issued to Cornelius Wynkoop, a notable military figure and wealthy landowner from upstate New York who was killed in 1792 when hit in the head with an axe wielded by one of his slaves. It is countersigned by Dirck Ten Broeck for New York. Declaration of Independence signer Francis Hopkinson has signed as the "Treas'r of Loans." A bold example, very full and broad sized with sharp color and minus the ink erosion often encountered on this series and type of laid paper. PMG mentions an annotation on the back signed by Wynkoop. The Hopkinson signature is superb. New York Livres Tournois certificates with the Ten Broeck - Hopkinson signature combination are very scarce, with Anderson estimating a surviving population of only between 21 and 50 pieces. A historic fiscal instrument from this interesting chapter in the early debt financing of the United States.
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Auction Info
2026 January 13 - 16 FUN U.S. Currency Signature® Auction #3600 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
January, 2026
13th-16th
Tuesday-Friday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 2
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
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