Catalog
2 Gourdes Independence
| Issuer | Banque Nationale d'Haïti |
|---|---|
| Year | 1904 |
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| Printer | American Bank Note Company, New York, United States |
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| Obverse description | The obverse carries portrait vignettes of Emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalines (Jacques I) at left and President Pierre Nord Alexis at right, flanking the National Coat of Arms at center. The composition is framed by intricate guilloche scrollwork borders characteristic of American Bank Note Company engraving of the early twentieth century. The overall layout is symmetrical, with the denomination and issuer inscriptions integrated into the decorative border work. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in red over a dense guilloche underprint, with a large numeral '2' set within an oval medallion at upper center, flanked on each side by circular ornamental vignettes each bearing the digit '2'. A central text panel carries the statutory counterfeiting warning legend in French, with 'REPUBLIQUE D'HAITI' inscribed within a solid panel at the base of the design. |
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| Comments |
This note marks the centennial of Haitian independence — 1904 was the hundredth anniversary of the declaration at Gonaïves on January 1st, 1804, and the Banque Nationale d'Haïti issued commemorative currency specifically to mark the occasion. The American Bank Note Company had been the Haitian government's preferred security printer for decades by this point, producing both the engraved plates and the finished notes from their Pearl Street facilities in lower Manhattan.
Pick 121 is genuinely scarce. Centennial issues were not produced in large quantities, and Haiti's tumultuous early twentieth century — foreign receivership of customs revenue began just four years later — meant that banking records and note stocks from this period were poorly preserved.