Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Dollars Certificate of Deposit
| Issuer | Department of Finance, Hawaiian Islands |
|---|---|
| Year | 1879-1880 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | P#3 |
| Obverse description | Green-tinted note with a central allegorical vignette of a robed female figure surrounded by tropical foliage, flanked by numeral 50 counters within guilloche frames. To the left, a large vignette of a goat or sheep on a rocky outcrop, identified as the Minister of Public Accounts position; to the right, a portrait vignette of a young woman in three-quarter view. Serial numbers appear in the upper corners, with the issuing authority inscription arching across the top and the payable clause in letterpress at the foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in green, the reverse centers on the Royal Coat of Arms of Hawaii within an elaborate circular guilloche frame, surmounted by the legend HAWAIIAN TREASURY in an arc. Large numeral 50 counters in guilloche ovals appear at left and right, and an ornate border of stylized foliate and geometric lathe-work surrounds the entire design. The inscription CERTIFICATE OF DEPOSIT is set in a panel at the foot. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Hawaii's 1879–1880 Certificates of Deposit were not conventional banknotes — they were interest-bearing instruments, effectively short-term government paper backed by treasury funds rather than a bank of issue. The Kingdom had no central bank, and the Department of Finance filled that structural gap directly. American Bank Note Company supplied the printing, as it did for most Pacific and Caribbean governments that lacked domestic security printing facilities during this period.
Surviving examples are genuinely rare. The certificates were redeemable and most were surrendered and cancelled upon maturity, leaving few intact in any condition. Pick lists only three types for the entire Hawaiian Islands series.