1 Dollar

The Treasury of Liberia issued this note during a period of chronic fiscal strain — the republic had defaulted on its British loan in 1874 and was operating under severe budgetary constraints. These treasury notes were effectively an emergency currency, filling a gap left by the near-total absence of coin in everyday commerce.

Pick 12 is among the rarest of Liberian nineteenth-century issues. The paper itself was prone to damage in the West African climate, and very few examples survived in any condition.