Cross Keys Café will be closed for Election Day on Nov. 3. The Museum will be open normal hours, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Plan Your Visit

Dismiss notification
Directions & Parking
Buy Tickets

Cross Keys Café will be closed for Election Day on Nov. 3. The Museum will be open normal hours, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Plan Your Visit

Dismiss notification
Directions & Parking
Buy Tickets

Continental Counterfeit Note Detector

  • Not on View

After declaring independence, the Continental Congress commissioned paper notes, or bills. As the Revolutionary War continued, the British attempted to weaken the value of Continental money by printing a surplus of counterfeit notes. Congress ordered the printing of counterfeit note detectors to assist shop owners with spotting the fake bills through side-by-side comparisons. The detectors were printed on blue fiber paper without a handwritten bill number or signatures to prevent their potential usage as actual bills. David Hall and William Sellers, Philadelphia printers of this detector, also produced the Pennsylvania Gazette along with other government projects.  

Object Details

  • Continental Counterfeit Note Detector
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Printed by Hall & Sellers
    1778
    Paper, Ink
    Museum of the American Revolution, Donated by Steve McBrearty
    2025.19.02

Take a Different Look

A piece of gray paper with an image of a leaf and printed text

Tags

Related Collections

See All Collection Highlights
Image 092320 16x9 Continental Currency Collection 1776 Continentalcurrency
Online Collection

Continental Currency (3 Dollars)

This example of paper currency from the American Revolution was issued under the authority of the Continental Congress in 1776.
See Object
Image 092320 16x9 First Newspaper Printing Declaration Independence Collection Firstnewspaperprinting
Online Collection

First Newspaper Printing of the Declaration of Independence

This July 6, 1776 issue of the Pennsylvania Evening Post presented the first newspaper printing of the newly adopted Declaration of Independence.
See Object
Small metal balancing scale to compare the weights of coins in the British colonies.
Online Collection

James Boone's Money Scale

This money scale owned by Pennsylvanian James Boone was used to compare weights and values of the coins from many different nations circulating throughout the colonies.
See Object