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5 Piastres
| Issuer | Banque Nationale d'Haiti |
|---|---|
| Year | 1875 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | P#72 |
| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by a central vignette of a pastoral scene with cannon, palm trees, and a sailing vessel, surrounded by a guilloche border with repeated numeral '5' corner devices. An allegorical female figure representing Justice occupies the lower left, while a portrait vignette of President Michel Domingue appears in the lower right medallion. The bank title 'LA BANQUE NATIONALE D'HAITI' is inscribed across the top, with the denomination 'CINQ PIASTRES' in bold letterpress script within the central text panel, below which appear three signature lines dated 1875. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in orange-brown and displays an elaborate guilloche lathe-work pattern filling the entire field, with a large central rosette enclosing the numeral '5'. Two symmetrically placed oval panels at left and right contain printed text, and a finely engraved geometric lace border frames the composition. |
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| Comments |
Haiti's 1875 note issue came during the presidency of Michel Domingue, a period of acute fiscal instability marked by foreign debt obligations and internal political maneuvering. The Banque Nationale d'Haiti itself had a complicated existence — its concessions were contested, and the institution was effectively controlled by foreign financial interests for much of its early history.
ABNC produced the intaglio work from their Manhattan plant, where Haitian commissions were a recurring but relatively minor part of the order book through the 1870s. The P#72 designation places this among the earlier surviving Haitian paper issues, and genuine circulation examples are seldom encountered — the 19th-century Caribbean monetary environment was brutal on paper.