20 Dollars

The Fenian Brotherhood issued these bonds in 1866–67 to finance an armed insurrection against British rule in Ireland, with the Republic of Ireland declared in advance as a political act — a government in aspiration rather than fact. The American Bank Note Company's involvement gave the instruments a credibility of appearance that was entirely deliberate: ABNC was the premier security printer in the United States, and Fenian organizers understood that a professional-looking bond would extract more money from the Irish diaspora than a crudely printed appeal.

No Irish republic was ever established, and no bondholder was ever repaid. The bonds were sold primarily through Fenian circles in northeastern US cities, with the promise of redemption "six months after the liberation of Ireland."