Catalog
1 Gourde
| Issuer | Trésorerie Générale, Haiti |
|---|---|
| Year | 1827 |
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| Currency | First gourde (1813-1870) |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Liberté Egalité Vu: les Membres de la Chambre des Comptes Le présent Billet circulera dans la République pour la valeur d'UNE GOURDE, en vertu de la Loi du 15 Avril 1827, et le Trésor public garantit la valeur de cette somme au porteur du présent. Le chef de bureau de la Trésorerie Générale, 1me Gourde |
| Reverse description | The reverse is uniface, consisting of plain unprinted paper with no design, text, or ornamental elements, typical of early Haitian Treasury issues of this period. |
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| Comments |
Haiti's P#1 is among the earliest paper currency issues from any independent nation in the Western Hemisphere. The Trésorerie Générale issued it in 1827, two decades after independence, during the presidency of Jean-Pierre Boyer — a period of acute fiscal strain compounded by the indemnity payments France had extracted in 1825 as the price of diplomatic recognition. Haiti was committed to paying 150 million francs to compensate former French colonists, a debt that crippled public finances for generations and almost certainly forced Boyer's hand in issuing paper.
Surviving examples are extraordinarily rare. Whether many ever circulated meaningfully is an open question.