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The E-Sylum: Volume 24, Number 1, January 4, 2021, Article 21

STACKS-BOWERS OFFERS RARE HAITIAN NOTES

Currency Auction Associate Christopher Dahncke of Stack's Bowers published a blog article about a large assortment of Haitian Notes on the firm's January 2021 sale. -Editor

Haitian Notes

Stacks Bowers Galleries is pleased to present a large assortment of Haitian notes in our January 2021 auction. We are offering 53 notes from Haiti, split between our Live and Internet sessions. These notes span from the 1820s through the 1960s, offering notes from the early Republic of Haiti, through the U.S. Civil War period and up to more modern times.

The standout highlights are lots 30176 and 30177. These notes stem from Bernard Kock's attempts to re-settle freed slaves from the American Civil War on the Haitian satellite island of Île-à-Vache. Bernard planned to use the island as a settlement to produce cotton, with freed Blacks as workers, and secured permission from the Haitian government to do so. The islands own currency was produced by Kock, which could be exchanged for normal Haitian Gourde notes. The settlement of the island fell through in late 1863, mainly to the fault of the financiers, and President Abraham Lincoln sent a ship to Haiti to bring the workers back to the United States.

The notes would have been issued from around the time of the islands settlement of April 13, 1863 through December 22, 1863, when the settlement was abandoned, an eight-month window which explains their scarcity today. Two outstanding Haitian rarities – a 1/2 Gourde and 1/4 Gourde – are presented in the Stack's Bowers Galleries January auction for the first time since 2014.

Settlements for freed slaves such as those in Haiti and Liberia are fascinating glimpses of history, backed by both do-gooders and those seeking new ways to exploit workers for profit. I wish I'd known about these notes when I was collecting U.S. Civil War scrip - they would have been highlights of my collection. Their size, style and format is identical to so many of the small change notes used throughout the U.S. in that troubled period. So much to collect and study - so little time. -Editor

1863 Haiti Bernard Kock Quarter Gourde scrip note

To read the complete lot descriptions, see:
Haiti. Bernard Kock. Île à Vache. P-Unlisted. ND(1863), 1/4 Gourde. Uncirculated and mounted on cardstock, Toning. Private Issue. (https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-PLZ9O/haiti-bernard-kockle-vache-p-unlisted-nd1863-14-gourde-uncirculated-and-mounted-on-cardstock-toning-private-issue)
Haiti. Bernard Kock. Île à Vache. P-Unlisted. ND(1863), 1/2 Gourde. Uncirculated and Mounted on Cardstock. Private Issue. (https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-PLZ9H/haiti-bernard-kock-le-vache-p-unlisted-nd1863-12-gourde-uncirculated-and-mounted-on-cardstock-private-issue)

For more information, see:
Haiti Paper Money, Bernard Kock Issues, Ca. 1863 (http://www.numismondo.net/pm/hti/bernardkock/)
Bernard Kock Colonized Cow Island With Freed Slaves (https://thompsongenealogy.com/2011/12/bernard-kock-colonized-cow-island-with-freed-slaves/)

To read the complete article, see:
Large Assortment of Haitian Notes to Highlight January 2021 Auction (https://www.stacksbowers.com/News/Pages/Blogs.aspx?ArticleID=haitian-banknotes-nyinc-stacks-bowers-galleries)

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Wayne Homren, Editor

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