15 Dollars
date: label: date made
content: 1776
label: date on object
content: 1776-10-07
name: label: maker
content: Virginia
notes: label: Description
content: The American colonies (or states, as they now began calling themselves) issued currency of their own to pay war expenses and keep local economies afloat. Issues from Virginia featured an armored Amazon brandishing a sword. She stands above and on the prone body of a dead male ruler, whose crown has fallen on the ground. The motto could not be more plain: SIC SEMPER TYRANNUS (Be it ever thus to tyrants). This vivid image still adorns the Virginia state flag.
label: Description
content: Unlike most Revolutionary War currency, this note was printed on only one side. And the paper for its printing left something to be desired. It looks as if this note were forcibly torn in two. But whether it was torn deliberately or by accident, someone pinned it back together-crudely but effectively.
label: Description
content: The denomination is given as "fifteen Spanish milled dollars." Those coins were the famous "pieces of eight," now minted by machinery ("milled") in Mexico City and elsewhere. They were the monies of choice when coins were available, and Americans liked them so much that they eventually based their own United States dollar on the Spanish-American prototype.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Virginia
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection
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content: NNC Colonial Currency
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content: Coins
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content: Numismatics
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content: Coins, Currency and Medals
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content: Legendary Coins
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Zoomable Image and Details
label: Related Publication
content: Glossary of Coins and Currency Terms
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/coins/glossary.cfm
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: B. M. Douglas
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: NU.68.135.74
label: catalog number
content: 68.135.74
label: accession number
content: 279615
label: serial number
content: 13942
objectType: label: Object Name
content: note
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink, black (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel pin (part material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 6.8 cm x 9.3 cm x .025 cm; 2 11/16 in x 3 21/32 in x in