Catalog
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| Issuer | Treasury of Liberia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1862-1864 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA ON DEMAND AT THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT THE TREASURER OF THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA WILL PAY TO BEARER IN GOLD OR SILVER COIN THREE DOLLARS |
| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely unprinted, presenting the plain paper stock with no design elements, vignettes, or inscriptions, its surface exhibiting the natural texture and age-toning characteristic of mid-nineteenth-century note paper. |
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| Comments |
Liberia's early paper currency occupies an awkward corner of 19th-century monetary history. The republic had been issuing notes since the 1850s, but chronic shortages of hard currency and the near-total dependence on American merchant credit made these instruments deeply unpopular. Local traders, many of them Americo-Liberian settlers with firsthand experience of inflated antebellum U.S. paper, were instinctively skeptical of government-backed notes.
The 1862–1864 dating range coincides with the period when Liberia's own treasury was operating under severe fiscal strain, partly a consequence of reduced American philanthropic support during the U.S. Civil War. Surviving examples are genuinely rare — the series saw limited acceptance and likely low print runs.