Catalog
1 Gourde
| Issuer | Banque Nationale de la République d'Haïti |
|---|---|
| Year | 1946-1950 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette presents an intaglio-engraved view of the Citadelle Laferrière perched atop its mountainous promontory, set within an ornate cartouche flanked by two diamond-shaped guilloche panels bearing the monogram of the bank. Multicolour rosette underprints in orange and green appear at left and right, with decorative floral corner pieces at each angle. The bank title runs across the top in a bold letterpress band, the denomination UNE GOURDE appears in a guilloche panel below the central vignette, and a legal-tender text panel with three manuscript signature lines — captioned UN ADMINISTRATEUR, UN DIRECTEUR, and UN ADMINISTRATEUR — is positioned at the foot of the note. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The centre of the reverse is occupied by a circular intaglio vignette of the Haitian National Coat of Arms — a palm tree surmounted by a Phrygian cap, flanked by cannons, cannonballs, and trophies of arms on a ground — encircled by the full legal-tender legend text. Large ornamental numeral-1 panels in guilloché work anchor the left and right margins, and scalloped corner rosettes with dense engine-turned lathe-work fill the four angles. The bank title arcs across the top border, and the denomination UNE GOURDE appears in a framed letterpress cartouche at the base. |
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| Comments |
The Banque Nationale de la République d'Haïti had a complicated institutional history by the time this series was issued — the bank had been under direct American financial supervision from 1915 until 1947, with the Haitian government only regaining full control of its central bank in the years immediately surrounding this note's print run. The timing is not incidental.
ABNC printed Haitian currency for decades, and their relationship with Port-au-Prince long outlasted the occupation itself. The P#170 gourde belongs to a transitional series issued across a four-year window — individual dates within the 1946–1950 range affect collector interest considerably, with earlier dates commanding more attention.