Images(2)

1790 Scioto Company (OH) scrip "bon pour," 6 cents

Dateca. 1790

Maker Unidentified

OriginAmerica, Ohio, Gallipolis

MediumPaper and ink

DimensionsOverall: 2 5/8 × 1 7/8in. (6.7 × 4.8cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase and Lasser Numismatics Fund

Object number2022-18

DescriptionSmall rectangular scrip note printed on both sides with type and cuts.
Label TextCalled "scrip," small-size notes like this served as a form of official local paper money where good coin was often scarce or non-existent. In places French was spoken these were known as "bon pours," which translates to "good for,” perfectly describing the nature of scrip and how it was used in commerce.

Issued by the Compagnie de Scioto, this very rare six cents note was meant for circulation in a new settlement near today's Gallipolis, Ohio. While this note was good for something, those who formed the Compagnie were not. Though representing themselves as a land development company, it was a scam, with the Compagnie de Scioto gladly taking money for land it did not own. Some 500 merchants, artisans, and minor aristocrats who fled the French Revolution arrived at Gallipolis in 1791 only to find out their deeds were worthless, and "their" land was owned by the Ohio Company.

Regardless, many of these determined French immigrants settled the area and held on till 1795, when President Washington gave them lands in "French Grant" in what is now southwest Scioto County. All they had to do was cultivate and live on the land for five years. Those who chose to stay in Gallipolis had to re-purchase their plots from the Ohio Company.

William Duer (1743-1799) signed this note and was one of the organizers of the Compagnie. Also a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, the scheme ruined Duer and he spent much of the rest of his life in debtor’s prison.