The 2000 ten gourdes tell the story of the birth of the Haitian flag. The front shows Catherine Flon sewing the republic’s first flag: on 18 May 1803, the last day of the Congress of Arcahaie, Jean-Jacques Dessalines cut a French tricolour with his sabre, and Flon stitched the pieces back together, leaving out the central white strip.

Flon was Dessalines’s goddaughter, and 18 May became a national holiday in Haiti. The back shows the national coat of arms: a palm tree crowned by a liberty cap, a drum at its foot, and flags and cannons on either side.

The note had a short life: the type was printed from 2000 to 2004, after which the ten gourdes took on a new look in the jubilee series for the bicentenary of independence, with the portrait of Sanité Bélair.

For a Haiti collection this is a short-lived type from the turn of the century, and in topical sets on flags or women on banknotes it shows the birth of the national flag. UNC condition means the note has never circulated: no folds, no wear, no soiling, even corners — just as it left the press.

VPcoins is an online shop of coins and banknotes where a collector can find both the missing pieces and new directions for a collection.