December 31, 1763, New Jersey Colonial Currency, Contemporary Counterfeit, Three Pounds, Plate “3” instead of “B”, Choice Crisp Extremely Fine.
NJ-159CFT. A rare French and Indian War era Counterfeit Three Pounds Type as listed on page 471 in the 2008 5th edition of Newman. Not mentioned in Newman is the fact that this note was erroneously counterfeited using a “3” typeset to the left of the bottom signature, apparently mistaken for the “B” Plate. This note states printed by James Parker on paper that contains no mica flakes. This was the first New Jersey issue that used mica flakes in the paper as an anti-counterfeiting measure but none are seen in this note for that reason. Nature print of a sage leaf can be seen on the reverse along with “To Counterfeit is Death.” Despite the warnings and counter measures, this example was a circulating contemporary counterfeit having one centerfold seen on the reverse. A choice crisp problem-free note, hard to find as a circulating counterfeit and has a collector value well in excess of the more common regular issue.