50 Gourdes European Market

Haiti's 1977–1978 50 Gourdes issues were part of a broad series of collector-oriented silver pieces produced under the Duvalier government, intended almost entirely for the foreign numismatic market rather than domestic circulation. Jean-Claude Duvalier's administration authorized numerous such issues through the 1970s, effectively using the national mint program as a foreign currency earner. The ".1" and ".2" variants in the KM reference reflect differing die details between production runs — a distinction that matters more to type collectors than it did to anyone in Port-au-Prince.