10 Cents

The Maryland State Colonization Society was an auxiliary of the American Colonization Society, founded to facilitate the emigration of free Black Americans to the west African territory that became Liberia. This 10-cent note was issued not as government currency but as a private scrip — the Society operated its own finances semi-independently, and small-denomination paper was a practical necessity for day-to-day transactions in an organization running shipping operations, land grants, and emigrant provisioning out of Baltimore.

Private colonization scrip from the 1830s rarely survived in quantity. The Society's financial footing was perpetually precarious, dependent on donations and state appropriations that arrived unevenly.