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2 Gourdes
| Issuer | Banque Nationale d'Haïti |
|---|---|
| Year | 1887 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 2 Gourdes (2 HTG) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of farmers with a horse at plough, framed by an ornate intaglio border. Upper portion carries the bold inscription REPUBLIQUE D'HAITI with LIBERTE-EGALITE-FRATERNITE beneath; a circular portrait vignette of an angel or allegorical female figure appears in the upper right corner. The denomination DEUX GOURDES is stated in the central text panel and repeated in large red letterpress across the lower portion, with signature lines for Le Delegue des Finances, Le Directeur de la Banque, and Le Membre de la Chambre des Comptes, and the printer's imprint of Charles Skipper & East, Paris & Londres at the foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | REPUBLIQUE D'HAÏTI LIBERTE-EGALITE-FRATERNITE DEUX GOURDES Série F28 No 06060 LE DELEGUE DES FINANCES LE DIRECTEUR DE LA BANQUE LE MEMBRE DE LA CHAMBRE DES COMPTES Charles Skipper & East, Paris & Londres |
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| Comments |
The Banque Nationale d'Haïti was not a Haitian institution in any meaningful sense — it was a concession granted to the Société Générale de Crédit Industriel et Commercial of Paris in 1880, giving French banking interests control over Haiti's note issuance, customs revenue collection, and treasury functions for a period of fifty years. The political controversy this arrangement generated never fully subsided.
Charles Skipper & East printed extensively for colonial and semi-colonial banking clients throughout this period, and their work for the BNH followed that pattern. The 1887 series covering small denominations like this 2 Gourdes was part of the bank's early effort to establish fiduciary circulation in a country where public confidence in paper had historically been poor.