Catalog
3 Dollars
| Issuer | Treasury of Liberia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1862-1864 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The upper centre carries an intaglio vignette of a sailing ship at sea alongside a palm tree, framing the redemption text in copperplate script across the body of the note. The issuer title REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA arches above the vignette, while the denomination THREE DOLLARS is set in letterpress along both vertical margins. Below the text, a manuscript place-and-date inscription reads Monrovia, Dec. 28th 1863, accompanied by two handwritten signatures for the Secretary of the Treasury and the President. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA ON DEMAND AT THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT THE TREASURER OF THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA WILL PAY TO BEARER IN GOLD OR SILVER COIN THREE DOLLARS |
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| Comments |
Liberia's early paper currency occupies an awkward corner of 19th-century monetary history. The republic had been issuing notes since the 1850s, but chronic shortages of hard currency and the near-total dependence on American merchant credit made these instruments deeply unpopular. Local traders, many of them Americo-Liberian settlers with firsthand experience of inflated antebellum U.S. paper, were instinctively skeptical of government-backed notes.
The 1862–1864 dating range coincides with the period when Liberia's own treasury was operating under severe fiscal strain, partly a consequence of reduced American philanthropic support during the U.S. Civil War. Surviving examples are genuinely rare — the series saw limited acceptance and likely low print runs.