One dollar, Bank of Poyais, Republic of Poyais (1820s). After fighting in South and Central America, the Scottish soldier <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_MacGregor" class="extiw" title="w:Gregor MacGregor">Gregor MacGregor</a> created an elaborate <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidence_trick" class="extiw" title="w:Confidence trick">scam</a> claiming to have been made a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacique" class="extiw" title="w:Cacique">Cacique</a> of the entirely fictitious Cazique of Poyais, all in an effort to defraud land investors. Nearly 200 died in 1822–23 in connection with MacGregor's deception.
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:National_Museum_of_American_History" class="extiw" title="w:en:National Museum of American History"><span title="history museum in Washington, D.C., a division of the Smithsonian Institution">National Museum of American History</span></a>
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2014-08-15 20:07:42
Image by <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Godot13" title="User:Godot13">Godot13</a>