10 Dollars Foundation of Liberia - 1847

Liberia's 1847 declaration of independence — the first in sub-Saharan Africa — was engineered largely by the American Colonization Society, a body whose motives were as much about removing free Black Americans from the United States as about creating an African homeland. The republic's early sovereignty was financially precarious enough that it wasn't formally recognized by the United States until 1862, delayed largely by Southern congressional opposition.

This 2001 issue is part of a prolific commemorative program the Central Bank of Liberia ran through licensed foreign mints during the late 1990s and early 2000s — many struck in China — targeting collector markets rather than domestic circulation.