2 Gourdes

Haiti's 1883 note issues came during a period of chronic fiscal instability, when successive governments borrowed heavily against customs revenues and paper money was printed in quantities that outpaced any realistic backing. The American Bank Note Company had been supplying Haitian currency since the 1870s, and this note is part of that extended relationship — ABNC held the contract through repeated changes of administration in Port-au-Prince, which says something about how few alternatives existed for a Caribbean government needing engraved security printing.

Surviving examples from this series are genuinely scarce. Paper currency in 19th-century Haiti suffered badly from the climate, and redemption rates were irregular at best.