-Massachusetts-1_May_1741_OBV.jpg)
A banknote for two Massachusetts shillings, or 1/10 of a Massachusetts pound, dated 1 May 1741. Massachusetts was the first of the Thirteen Colonies to have its own currency, authorizing the issuance of paper money in 1690; South Carolina would follow with its own pound in 1703. The pound saw heavy inflation and, in 1749, Massachusetts withdrew its paper money from circulation and returned to specie.Banknote: Province of Massachusetts Bay; image courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution