Catalog
1 Gourde Independence
| Issuer | Banque Nationale d'Haiti |
|---|---|
| Year | 1904 |
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| Value | 1 Gourde (1 HTG) |
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| Obverse description | At centre, the national coat of arms flanked by portrait vignettes: to the left, Emperor Jacques I (Jean-Jacques Dessalines, 1758–1806), and to the right, President Pierre Nord Alexis (1820–1910), both rendered in fine intaglio engraving. The layout commemorates the centennial of Haitian independence, with decorative guilloche borders framing the overall composition. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in green intaglio on a dense guilloche underprint, with large ornamental cipher letters at left and right flanking a central text panel bearing a counterfeit warning legend in French. The lower portion carries the inscription REPUBLIQUE D'HAITI in bold letterpress, and the American Bank Note Company imprint appears at the bottom margin. |
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| Comments |
Haiti's centennial of independence in 1904 prompted a commemorative note issue at a moment when the republic's finances were under severe strain — a French debt settlement dating back to the 1825 indemnity still shadowed public accounts. The American Bank Note Company had been the preferred engraver for Haitian notes since the 1870s, and this issue reflects their characteristic fine-line intaglio work.
Pick 120 is scarce in any grade. The 1904 centennial series was a limited commemorative run, not a workhorse circulation issue, and surviving examples tend to show either careful storage or heavy handling — little in between.