190

Lot 190: Robert Treat Paine Signed Document

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:1,500.00 USD Estimated At:2,500.00 - 3,500.00 USD
Lot  190: Robert Treat Paine Signed Document
<b>Autographs</b><hr><b>Colonial Silver Coinage Counterfeiter Indicted in 1785
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<b>ROBERT TREAT PAINE, Attorney General of Massachusetts, Signer of the Declaration of Independence.</b>
Autograph Document Signed, “R T Paine”, as Attorney General of Massachusetts, Fourth Tuesday of September, 1785, (Springfield, Massachusetts), 6” x 7.25”, expertly mounted and inlaid in a 1/2 inch border, Choice Extremely Fine.

“At the Supreme Judicial Court... The Jurors for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts... present that Joseph Harris, late resident at Westfield... being an Evilly disposed person and contriving and intending the Said Commonwealth... craftily falsely and deceitfully to defraud and injure... with force and arms Eight hundred pieces of false feigned and Counterfeit money and Coins of Copper Brass and other mixed metal to the likeness and similitude of the good legal money and silver coin current in this Commonwealth called Spanish milled Dollars... did forge, counterfeit and coin, in evil Example to others...”

Robert Treat Paine was a member of the Continental Congress, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the first attorney general of Massachusetts. He was also a judge on the Massachusetts supreme court and a founder of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. An extremely rare and important link of one of our Founding Fathers to the fight against the Counterfeiting of Colonial Currency! Extremely rare and historically important to Paper Money collectors.