Catalog
0,50 Austral
| Issuer | Provincia de La Rioja |
|---|---|
| Year | 1986 |
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| Currency | Austral (1985-1991) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in violet and pink tones, with a portrait vignette of a male figure occupying the right portion of the note against a fine guilloche underprint. The left side carries a vertical panel with the denomination inscription 'Cincuenta Centavos' and geometric ornamental elements, alongside a barcode-style serial number block. Central inscriptions read 'PROVINCIA DE LA RIOJA / BONO CANCELACION DE DEUDA / LEY 4534' with the denomination numeral 'A0,50' in large figures at lower right, and two facsimile signatures above the imprint 'CASA DE MONEDA'. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in violet on white paper and contains a lengthy legal text in Spanish constituting the full text of Ley 4534, the provincial debt cancellation bond law, arranged in justified columns across the entire face of the note. The denomination '0,50' appears at upper left, with 'PROVINCIA DE LA RIOJA - BONO CANCELACION DE DEUDA - LEY 4534' as the heading, and a vertical 'Cincuenta Centavos' legend along the right margin. |
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| Comments |
La Rioja issued this fractional note during the acute fiscal disarray of Argentina's mid-1980s, when several provinces resorted to quasi-currency to meet payroll and local obligations that the federal government could not adequately fund. The national Austral itself had only been introduced in June 1985 as a stabilization measure following the Austral Plan — replacing the Peso Argentino at 1,000:1 — so a provincially issued half-Austral note speaks to how quickly that optimism unraveled at the subnational level.
Casa de Moneda handled the printing, which gave the note a degree of technical legitimacy despite its emergency origins. Provincial scrip of this period was frequently redeemed at a discount, if at all.