Rare Counterfeiting Documents from Colonial New England; With an Early Holograph History of Counterfeiters & Their Methods

(NEW ENGLAND COUNTERFEITING). (SHERMAN, ROGER et al). A Series of Sixteen (16) Holograph Documents, Including Seven From Rhode Island (1742-53), Seven from Connecticut (one, in 1756, signed by Roger Sherman, signer from Connecticut; six from 1786), one from New Hampshire (1777, signed by Meshech Weare, president of New Hampshire), and a very long seven-page manuscript written by the district attorney of Pennsylvania in 1791 on chemical preparations for counterfeiting, with an extensive list of known counterfeiters. . 12mo-4to size documents, all in holograph, all very good condition; three Rhode Island documents with considerable staining, but legible and sound. $8,500.00

For an extensive history of counterfeiting in Colonial New England, see the monographs on counterfeiting in various colonies by Kenneth Scott published in the 1950s. DAH, published in 1942, reports that counterfeiting was not of great importance in the colonies, but Scott offers a different assessment, reporting "evidence of the wide scope of counterfeiting and its impact on the economy of New York and other provinces....[growing] steadily in extent and harmfulness." Scott reports that in Rhode Island, "[t]he spurious bills and coin were a genuine threat to trade and business and a source of constant embarrassment to the authorities....From the earliest times Rhode Island, like the other colonies, was plagued by counterfeiters and the vigilance of the government could not be relaxed...Many ignorant persons did not realize the devastating effect of bad money on the economy of the colony and such ignorance led to public apathy and the unwillingness of juries to convict counterfeiters." The documents we offer are a very rare type: they are orders for the retention in the common gaol of men suspected of counterfeiting; in the case of the 1786 Connecticut documents, payment to gaol-keepers for services relative to retention of counterfeiters; or in the early Rhode Island documents, bonds signed and sealed by suspected (and well known) counterfeiters. Many of the names, such as Amos Fuller of Dutchess County, New York, and John Potter of North Kingstown, Rhode Island, are reported on by Scott. John Potter, was a fascinating character, a prominent merchant and Quaker, who in 1743 successfully petitioned the Assembly for restoration of his rights to act as a freeman, and in 1754 was elected to serve in the Assembly. While the Lower House voted to receive him, the Upper House considered his admission "a high Dishonour to the Colony." Cf. Scott, p.17 ff. (Little seems to have changed here in Rhode Island). The communication from Wm. Lewis, District Attorney of Pennsylvania, in 1791, although quite browned, somewhat worn and lightly stained, is an extensive history of the counterfeiters of the period, likely the earliest extant. It contains a discussion of the method of obtaining the documents from unwary persons necessary for extracting appropriate inks for forgery. A double-spaced fair copy has been typed out running to some seven pages. Beyond the actual quantity of counterfeiting that is provable in the colonies, one should recognize, as Scott declares, that "The greatest suffering from counterfeit money was on the part of the poor and ignorant." In 1727, the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania compared counterfeiting with poisoning the waters of a country. As a result, penalties written on the books were severe, but not uniformly enforced. These documents provide a fascinating glimpse at governmental efforts to deal with a rising tide. While counterfeit notes are available and collected, a collection of governmental documents relative to legal steps taken against this plague of mostly obscure counterfeiters is hardly known, and perhaps not possible to obtain today.