25 Cents

The Maryland State Colonization Society was a private organization promoting the emigration of free Black Americans to the West African colony of Maryland in Liberia, established in 1834 as distinct from — and often at odds with — the American Colonization Society. This note was issued during a period when the Society was financing ships, land purchases, and colonial administration largely through private subscriptions and scrip rather than state appropriation.

Fractional paper currency from colonization societies is rare in any condition. The Society had no banking charter, which makes the legal basis for circulating this scrip in Baltimore a legitimate open question.