Catalog
50 Cents
| Issuer | Liberia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1846 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Dollar (1833-1906) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Portrait vignette of Benjamin Franklin at upper left and George Washington at upper right, with two cherubs as a central vignette at upper centre. The note bears manuscript signatures across the face. Text inscriptions indicate the denomination and issuing authority in letterpress. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse, visible through the paper in the scan, reflects the layout of the obverse vignettes in a ghost image, consistent with a thin period paper construction. No distinct independent reverse design elements are discernible. |
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| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Comments |
The 1846 Liberian 50 Cents note is among the earliest paper currency issued by the republic, which had only declared independence in 1847 — making this note a pre-independence instrument, technically issued by the Commonwealth of Liberia under the authority of the American Colonization Society before full sovereignty was established. The timing matters: these circulated in a settler economy still defining its own monetary footing, with trade goods and foreign coin dominating daily exchange.
The American Bank Note Company's involvement is unsurprising — they handled most early American-sphere colonial and republican issues — but it does mean the notes were produced thousands of miles from where they circulated, with no local printing infrastructure to fall back on for replacements.