5 Dollars

The Irish Republic Treasury notes of 1866 were Fenian Brotherhood instruments, issued not for domestic circulation but to raise funds among the Irish diaspora in the United States following the Civil War. The timing was deliberate — demobilized Irish-American veterans were being recruited for the planned invasion of Canada, and these notes were sold as bonds, carrying an implicit promise of redemption once an Irish republic was established.

American Bank Note Company produced the series at their New York facilities, which also handled U.S. government securities at the time — a detail that lent the notes a surface credibility that the underlying political reality did not support. No Irish republic ever redeemed them.