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5 Gourdes
| Issuer | Trésor Public, République d'Haïti |
|---|---|
| Year | 1827 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Gourdes |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The face is dominated by a central oval vignette of the Haitian National Coat of Arms — a palm tree surmounted by a Phrygian cap and flanked by cannons — enclosed within an elaborate scrollwork border. The denomination CINQ GOURDES appears in bold letterpress in the body text and in vertical panels at each side, with the numeral $5 at lower left. The upper right carries the warning inscription LA LOI PUNIT DE MORT LA CONTREFAÇON, while the main text cites the guaranty of the Trésor public under the law of 16 April 1827, with a space reserved for the Trésorier Général's signature. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely unprinted, presenting a plain, blank paper surface devoid of any design, text, or ornamental element. |
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| Comments |
Haiti's Trésor Public notes from the 1820s were issued under acute fiscal pressure — the country was still absorbing the ruinous effects of the 1825 indemnity agreement, in which Charles X extracted 150 million francs from Haiti as the price of French diplomatic recognition. That debt restructuring consumed a staggering share of state revenue for decades and forced the government to lean heavily on domestic paper instruments it had almost no capacity to redeem at par.
P#34 is among the earliest surviving Haitian paper money, and its scarcity today is partly a function of how little institutional infrastructure existed to manage or preserve government documents in Port-au-Prince during the Boyer administration.