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PCGS Banknote Grades Finest-Known Example of One of the First Western Banknotes Ever Issued

PCGS recently graded one of just six known February 3, 1690/91 20 Shillings Colonial banknotes. The “Bill of Credit” was issued by the Massachusetts Bay Colony to pay and stave off mutiny by its troops in a failed attempt to take Quebec from the French during the King William’s War against Canada.

It is not only considered to be among the first banknotes authorized in North America, but also one of the very first issued in all the Americas and Europe. The PCGS graded AU50 note is believed to be the finest-known example.

Two other notes are impounded in the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Smithsonian Institution. Only one other specimen is known in private hands.

Full article: https://www.pcgs.com/news/pcgs-banknote-grades-finest-known-example-of-western-banknote

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