1776 Georgia "Colored Seal" emission of Colonial Currency, Maroon Seal, Ten Spanish Milled Dollars, Scrip “GEORGIA” on each side Border, “Millstone on Palm Tree” Vignette, “OPPRESSA SURGIT” Legend, PCGS graded Very Fine-20.
Fr. GA-76b. Serial No. 507. This authentic note belongs to Georgia's 1776 "Colored Seal" emission, part of the broader 1776-1778 Georgia Dollar Denominations series issued to help finance the Colony's transition into an active Revolutionary War government. It is fully clearly signed in rich brown ink on clean high quality watermarked laid period paper by; LaVien, Telfair, McGillivray, O’Bryen, and Ewen. This rectangular note measures about 3” x 5.5” (139mm x 75mm) being Uniface having a clean blank reverse. The colors are crisp and vivid, the “Millstone on Palm Tree” Maroon Seal is extremely sharp in detail and well-printed, and the embossing is even and top-notch. This impressive, very pleasing note has the eye appeal deserving of a substantially higher grade despite some overly critical holder details comments; multiple repairs, ink erosion (only partially within the heavily inked signature “P. LaVien,” minor design redrawn. The historic legend, OPPRESSA SURGIT ties the image together explicitly to the “Millstone on Palm Tree” vignette: the tree/colony, despite being pressed down, rises anyway. One of the most popular modern reproduced Georgia colonial notes. It's a message of defiance and resilience rather than despair, being the exact sentiment you'd want stamped on money meant to fund a Revolution! Pedigree: From Stack’s sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part X, May, 2005, Lot 4513. (Ford Price Realized: $4,025).




These notes financed Georgia's revolutionary government after it broke from royal authority in 1776; unlike the earlier 1766 court-house issue, the printer's identity for much of this wartime series is uncertain, since Georgia's official colonial printer, James Johnston, remained a Tory, loyal to the Crown and would not print Revolutionary currency. Also, many official colony records documenting this period were later burned during the British occupation of Savannah.

This particular 1776 Georgia "Colored Seal" emission of Colonial Currency, Maroon Seal, Ten Spanish Milled Dollars, “Millstone on Palm Tree” Vignette, is among the most heavily reproduced paper money in American numismatics. Reproductions have circulated widely since as early as the 1920s, made for museum gift shops and historical sites, and later mass-distributed as premiums (famously, some were even given away in cereal boxes in the 1950s). The note offered currently is genuine.
[American Revolution, Colonial Georgia, Revolutionary War] [Currency and Finance, Political History] [Currency, Colonial Currency, Numismatics, Exonumia]