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1 Piastre
| Issuer | Banque Nationale d'Haïti |
|---|---|
| Year | 1875 |
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| Composition | Cotton paper |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE NATIONALE D'HAÏTI UNE ONE Payera à vue en Espèce UNE PIASTRE à la Banque Principale à Port au Prince. SEPTRE 1875 Le Président. Le Caissier Principal. L'Agent du Gouvernement. American Bank Note Co. New York. |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in dark blue with an elaborate guilloche underprint covering the entire surface. Two large oval panels at centre carry the legal text in French, separated by a central ornamental cross motif. The word UNE appears vertically in large letters at both left and right margins within additional guilloche framework, and the numeral 1 appears at top centre and bottom centre within decorative cartouches. |
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| Comments |
The Banque Nationale d'Haïti was not a Haitian institution in any meaningful sense — it was a concession, controlled by French banking interests under a contract that gave the French shareholders a monopoly on note issue in exchange for managing Haiti's public debt. The 1875 piastre notes emerged from that arrangement, printed by ABNC in New York for a bank whose real power resided in Paris.
The piastre was already a dying unit by this point, soon displaced as Haiti realigned its currency to the gourde. Low-denomination notes from this issuer saw hard use and survive in quantity only at the lower end of the grade scale.