NC-139. December 1771 North Carolina £1 note. Serial no. 770. Signed by Richard Caswell, John Harvey, Lewis De Rosset, and John Rutherford. Stamped "I. ASHE" to the verso alongside period manuscript notation. 3 3/4 x 2 1/8 in. 

Printed from engraved plates featuring a vignette of a bear superimposed with the constellation Ursa Minor. A lovely note from the late colonial period. 

The verso features the stamp of John Ashe (1725-1781), a prominent North Carolina politician and military officer. He served as a colonel in the North Carolina Militia during the French and Indian War (1754-1763). Elected to the North Carolina House of Burgesses in 1752, he was elevated to the Speaker of the House from 1762 to 1765. A vehement vocal opponent of the Stamp Act, he eventually became an enthusiastic Revolutionary.

After resigning his royal commission, he was elected colonel in the patriot militia in New Hanover County in 1775, leading his men to victory at Fort Johnston, where they destroyed the British Garrison. He went on to another American victory at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge on 27 February 1776. In May, he was commissioned as Brigadier General of militia in command of the Wilmington Brigade, where he constructed coastal defenses in the Cape Fear region. On 8 November 1778, Ashe was commissioned as North Carolina's first major general in command of the state militia. Under the command of Maj. General Benjamin Lincoln, he pursued British General Archibald Campbell. After a devastating route at the Battle of Brier Creek, he returned to Wilmington, where he actively suppressed Loyalist activity and served as the Treasurer of the Southern district of the Colony of North Carolina from 1777 to 1781. When Cornwallis occupied the town, he was taken as a prisoner of war and contracted smallpox. Although paroled, he died shortly after his release from captivity. 

References:
Bruce Hagen & Stuart Levine. Continental and Colonial Currency. 

Eric P. Newman. The Early Paper Money of America. 

[Currency, Tokens, Medals,  Numismia, Numismatics, Exonumia, Bonds, Coins, Banknotes] [American Revolutionary War, American Revolution, Founding Fathers, Declaration of Independence, Colonial America, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe] 

Slabbed and graded by Professional Coin Grading Services (PCGS) as "Extremely Fine 45 PPQ".