Republic of Haiti 1887 silver Gourde

The Republic of Haiti may have a pretty terrible record as a country, but they sure produced some good-looking coins. I recently acquired this large, crown-sized silver gourde minted in 1887. I've always liked the reverse design, and what a fine rendition of Liberty, as well.

REPUBLIC OF HAITI
AR Gourde (37.6mm, 25.00g, 6h)
Dated 1887. Paris mint, France
Obverse: RÉPUBLIQUE * D'HAÏTI AN 84, Liberty facing right, wearing head scarf; ·900 MILL·1895·25 GRAM· below; ROTY Gr LAFORESTERIE below bust
Reverse: Coat of arms of Haiti: banners, spears, muskets with fixed bayonets, cannons, and cannonballs behind and around palm tree surmounted with liberty cap, L'UNION FAIT LA FORCE on banner below; ·LIBERTÉ·ÉGALITÉ·FRATERNITÉ· above, ·1 GOURDE · below
References: Numista 23882
Mintage: 200,000
Formerly in NGC encapsulation, graded AU Details. From the Globus Collection.​

In 1492 the very first European settlement in the New World was established by Christopher Columbus on the northwestern coast of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in what is now the country of Haiti. For two hundred years the island remained under Spanish control, until 1697 when the western portion was ceded to the French. The harsh treatment and brutal working conditions of the slave population there led to the outbreak of a slave revolt in 1791, which eventually resulted in the establishment of the Republic of Haiti in 1804.

NGC photos:






Feel free to comment and/or post your own coins! Would love to see what you have.

 

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Nice cannons, Wonderful frills on the flags.
Nice one Meat man.

 

I just saw a tropical forecast indicating that the system down there now may dump THIRTY inches of rain on Haiti over the next week. Those poor folks cannot catch a break.

I suppose it's too much to hope that the resulting flooding and landslides would wipe away the gangs currently fighting for ownership of the country...

 

Thanks! I really like the level of detail. NGC's photos really bring that out more, although mine are more true to real life appearance.

 

Yikes! That's not good. Especially with practically zero infrastructure to deal with that sort of catastrophe. Unfortunately, I'm afraid more destruction will only exacerbate the lawlessness there.

 

Thanks! I'm currently on the lookout for a nice 1890 20 centimes. I like the big silver but I also have a fondness for shilling-sized pieces as well.

 

Beautiful @The Meat man
Love those cannons. Picked a dime of that design from my LCS junk box.

 

Thanks Heavymetal! Nice find on that 10 centimes.

 

Here are a couple of mine. There was a time when Haiti produced some pretty coins.

 

That 1887 1 Gourde is a beauty. Here's my more worn 1881 example.

Haiti, Republic 1 Gourde, 1881.
KM 46
25.01 grams

 

Very nice!

 

I took pictures of two more coins today.

Haiti, Republic, 25 Centimes, AN 13 (1813).
19 mm; 1.9 grams.
KM 12.1


Haiti, Republic, 100 Centimes, AN 26 (1829).
30 mm; 10.64 grams.
KM 23

 

Very nice! I don't ever remember seeing an early 100 centimes like that.

 

Thanks!

I don't know how available these early Haitian coins are nowadays, but they seemed to have been listed quite frequently around 20 years ago. I paid $100 for the 100 centimes coin about 25 years ago. That was on the high side back then, but the coin is very high grade, so I guess the premium was worth the cost. The 25 centimes was $70, and it is somewhat unusual in that the flan diameter is 19 millimeters, as opposed to the norm of 22 to 25 millimeters, according to the information on the envelope. The snake on the obverse of that coin is pretty cool.