Gregor Macgregor Hats
Description: General Gregor MacGregor (24 December 1786 – 4 December 1845) was a Scottish soldier, adventurer, and confidence trickster who attempted from 1821 to 1837 to draw British and French investors and settlers to "Poyais", a fictional Central American territory that he claimed to rule as "Cazique". Hundreds invested their savings in supposed Poyaisian government bonds and land certificates, while about 250 emigrated to MacGregor's invented country in 1822–23 to find only an untouched jungle; more than half of them died. Seen as a contributory factor to the "Panic of 1825", MacGregor's Poyais scheme has been called one of the most brazen confidence tricks in history.
Description: Beautiful Poyais! But is it a ‘Life of Paradise’ or a ‘Lie of Paradise’? The ‘E’ in the design here is faded, so we don’t know for certain if paradise in Poyais is ‘Life’ or a ‘Lie’. The whole Caribbean country was actually made up by a trickster called Captain Gregor MacGregor in 1821 who, for sixteen years, tricked hundreds of wealthy fools into investing their savings to get a piece of the rich, but in reality a completely fictitious land. This would be a fun conversation starter and maybe an ideal gift for a friend or family member who likes unusual and interesting stories from history.
