Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
National Bond - 500 Dollars
| Issuer | Fenian Brotherhood (Republic of Ireland) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1866-1867 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Yes |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Green and black intaglio print with an elaborate guilloche border. A central vignette of an eagle perched on a rock flanked by scrollwork occupies the upper centre, with oval portrait medallions of two military figures in the lower corners. Denomination counters of 500 appear in guilloche ovals at left and right, with a circular green underprint rosette at centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | THIS National Bond OF THE Republic of Ireland CERTIFIES THAT THE REPUBLIC in the sum of Five Hundred Dollars Register No. Register Agent of the Republic CONTINENTAL BANK NOTE CO NEW YORK |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Fenian Brotherhood's bond issue of 1866–67 was a fundraising instrument aimed at Irish-American communities still radicalized by the Famine diaspora and emboldened by the end of the Civil War — a moment when tens of thousands of battle-hardened Irish veterans were suddenly available and sympathetic. The bonds were sold on the promise of an independent Irish republic, redeemable once that republic was established. It never was.
Continental Bank Note Company, then operating out of New York, produced the printing. The bonds were never honored, rendering them obligations of a government that existed only on paper — which is precisely why collectors treat them as political documents rather than financial instruments.