Continental Currency February 17, 1776 $1/6 Fr-CC19 Printed By Hall & Sellers Grades vf, very fine. The February 17, 1776 small denomination notes are fascinating, with Benjamin Franklin designed motifs on both sides. The face has the Fugio design used on the Continental Dollars, and later the 1787 Fugio coppers, with sundial and MIND YOUR BUSINESS. The backs correspond to the coin designs with WE ARE ONE in the center encircled by AMERICAN CONGRESS, with a glory of rays around. These elements are all encircled by linked chains, bearing the names of the original thirteen colonies, joined together. The Fugio notes should be considered Fractional Continental Dollars. The smaller vertical format with this design has an excellent layout. The $1/6 is the lowest denomination of four, printed on double-pane sheets of twelve, using three letter positions per denomination. An emission totaling $4,000,000 payable in Spanish milled dollars, or the equivalent in gold or silver, was authorized by the Continental Congress resolution of February 10, 1776. Of this $1,000,000 was reserved for the first national fractional currency. The front design on the fractional notes includes the first use of the "FUGIO" (I fly) legend and sundial as well as the "Mind your Business" legend. The back shows the thirteen linked rings representing the colonies and the legends "We are one" and "American Congress". Eric Newman has discovered these designs were created by Benjamin Franklin (see his indispensable The Early Paper Money of America p. 53). Note that on the fractional bills the dots in the corners of the front design reflect the denomination, with one dot designating a sixth of a dollar, two dots for a third, three dots for $1/2 and four dots for $2/3. Also, fractional denominations come in plates A, B and C. Again it was Newman who discovered the devices and border designs for the fractional bills were cut by Elisha Gallaudet, who also designed the Continental Currency coin. There is one signer, in red ink, on the fractional bills and two signers, using red and brown ink, on the dollar denominations. Counterfeit detectors for the dollar denominations were made on blue paper. The Franklin designs were adopted for the Continental Currency coin made a few months later and for the 1787 Fugio cents. The paper, made at Ivy Mills in Chester County, Pennsylvania, contained blue fibers and mica flakes. Printed by Hall and Sellers in Philadelphia. Denominations printed were the: $1/6, $1/3, $1/2, $2/3, $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, $7 and $8.