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1 Gourde
| Issuer | Trésorerie Générale, Haiti |
|---|---|
| Year | 1827 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | The Haitian National Coat of Arms is printed in the upper centre, flanked by the inscriptions "Liberté" and "Egalité" on either side. Below, a boxed serial number and a letterpress text block state the note circulates throughout the Republic for the value of one gourde by virtue of the Law of 15 April 1827, with the public Treasury guaranteeing payment to the bearer. The right margin carries a vertical denomination inscription "1me Gourde", and the left margin bears the countersignature of members of the Chambre des Comptes, with the issuing authority identified as "Le chef de bureau de la Trésorerie Générale." |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is uniface, consisting of plain unprinted paper with no design, text, or ornamental elements, typical of early Haitian Treasury issues of this period. |
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| Comments |
Haiti's P#1 is among the earliest paper currency issues from any independent nation in the Western Hemisphere. The Trésorerie Générale issued it in 1827, two decades after independence, during the presidency of Jean-Pierre Boyer — a period of acute fiscal strain compounded by the indemnity payments France had extracted in 1825 as the price of diplomatic recognition. Haiti was committed to paying 150 million francs to compensate former French colonists, a debt that crippled public finances for generations and almost certainly forced Boyer's hand in issuing paper.
Surviving examples are extraordinarily rare. Whether many ever circulated meaningfully is an open question.