Images(2)

Counterfeit Maryland $6 Bill, March 1, 1770 Issue

Dateca.1770-1775

OriginAmerica, Maryland

MediumPaper and ink

DimensionsLength: 4 5/8"; Width; 2 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2025-44

DescriptionContemporarily printed facsimile bill with the forged signatures of Robert Couden and John Clapham, plus a manuscript serial number "1598."
Label TextThe unrelenting presence of counterfeit paper money was a problem shared by rich and poor American colonists alike. To prevent re-circulation, once counterfeit bills had been identified, the vast majority of them were immediately destroyed, making survivors very rare today.

This counterfeit of a Maryland $6 bill is much cruder than the originals of this denomination and issue, which were printed by William Green and his mother Anne Catherine Green. Additionally, it is missing the "secret mark" the Greens incorporated into their printing plate as an anti-counterfeiting device. Meant to look like a stray bit of printing ink, they included a dash-like mark between the words "Assembly of" in the main text block.
ProvenanceEric P. Newman Collection; [Heritage Auctions, October 3, 2015, Lot 18862]; John Kraljevich Collection; [Stack's Bowers Galleries, Costa Mesa, CA]; 2025 - present, purchased by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)