10 Centimes - Faustin I Essai

Faustin Soulouque, a former slave who rose through the Haitian military to seize the presidency in 1847, declared himself Emperor Faustin I in 1849 — an act that drew ridicule in the European press but genuine alarm in Washington and among neighboring Caribbean powers. This essai was produced as part of the coinage program accompanying his imperial ambitions, likely struck in Paris, where Haitian coinage was habitually contracted. Essais from his reign are scarce; the empire itself collapsed in January 1859 when Soulouque was forced into exile in Jamaica following a military revolt.