Skip to main content
Advanced Search
Image Not Available for Engraved Certificate with Allegorical Scene, and One, Three, and Twenty-Five Dollar Banknotes from the Washington Bank of Westerly, Rhode Island
Engraved Certificate with Allegorical Scene, and One, Three, and Twenty-Five Dollar Banknotes from the Washington Bank of Westerly, Rhode Island
Image Not Available for Engraved Certificate with Allegorical Scene, and One, Three, and Twenty-Five Dollar Banknotes from the Washington Bank of Westerly, Rhode Island

Engraved Certificate with Allegorical Scene, and One, Three, and Twenty-Five Dollar Banknotes from the Washington Bank of Westerly, Rhode Island

Printmaker
Printmaker (American, 1754 - 1832)
Datebefore 2000
MediumSheet (.a): Engraving on wove paper. Sheet (.b): Engraving and aquatint on wove paper.
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions: 6 x 11 3/4in. (15.2 x 29.8cm) Plate (total plate height x width of plate A): 14 7/8 x 12 15/16in. (37.8 x 32.9cm) Plate (upper plate height x width of sheet A): 7 5/16 x 12 15/16in. (18.6 x 32.9cm) Plate (lower plate height x width of sheet A): 7 3/8 x 12 15/16in. (18.7 x 32.9cm) Sheet (height x width of sheet B): 15 x 12 7/8in. (38.1 x 32.7cm) Plate (left plate height x width of sheet B): 12 7/8 x 7 7/16in. (32.7 x 18.9cm) Plate (right plate height x width of sheet B): 12 7/8 x 7 5/16in. (32.7 x 18.6cm)
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineGift of Dr. Walter P. Doolittle
Object number2001.122.1a,b
DescriptionSheet (.a), an engraved certificate with an allegorical scene, is composed of a top plate and a bottom plate. It is an official document, known as a "Mediterranean Pass," printed for the British Admiralty. At the top is an image consisting of three allegorical figures seated on rocks in the sea. On the left, a woman wearing classical dress and a helmet holds a palm branch and small winged figure of Victory with a laurel wreath and a palm. A second seated woman on the right holds a cornucopia and a caduceus. In the center, a bearded triton supports a framed image of a ship. The upper part of the image, which is cut off, originally included flags.
The inscription on the certificate reads, "BY THE COMMISSIONERS FOR EXECUTING THE OFFICE/ OF LORD HIGH ADMIRAL OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND ETC./ AND OF ALL HIS MAJESTYS PLANTATIONS ETC./ Suffer the Ship [Blank]/ To pass with her Company Passengers Goods and Merchandize/ without any Let, Hindrance Seizure or Molestation The Said/ Ship appearing unto Us by good Testimony to belong to the/ Subjects of His Majesty and to no Foreigner Given under/ Our Hands and the Seal of the Office of the Admiralty, the [blank] day of [blank] in the Year of Our/ Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and [blank]/ To all Persons whom these [blank]/ May Concern...[additional text cut off at bottom.]

Sheet (.b) is composed of a left plate and a right plate. The left plate includes three copies of the three dollar note lettered A, B anc C, and one copy of the twenty-five dollar note. The right plate includes four copies of the one dollar note. Each note incorporates a profile bust-length portrait of George Washington, wearing a military uniform and crowned with a laurel wreath, and an aquatint design at the left, presumably because the aquatint design would be impossible for a forger to duplicate.

NotesSubject Note: Certificate 2001.122.1a is known as a "Mediterranean Pass" and was issued by the British Admiralty to merchant vessels belonging to British subjects. Despite the name, it could be used for British vessels trading anywhere in the world; it was intended to provide official proof of British ownership, particularly where hostilities might subject such a vessel to seizure. The United States issued a similar document, called a "Ship's Passport" beginning in the 1790s.
Additional information can be found in: Douglas L. Stein, American Maritime Documents, 1776-1860. Mystic: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1992, p. 113-115.

Historical Note: 2001.122.1a,b is a modern restrike, printed about 1995-2000, from an eighteenth-century copper plate. Sheet A contains impressions from one side of the plates, used to print a "Mediterranean Pass," presumably sometime prior to American independence. Sheet B contains impressions from the other side of the same plate, engraved with banknotes by Amos Doolittle, about 1799-1800.
Status
Not on view
    eMuseum
    Copyright © eMuseum