Catalog
1/2 Peso
| Issuer | Tesorería General de la República Argentina |
|---|---|
| Year | 1860 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Plain typeset note with a rectangular guilloche border running along all four edges, with the text 'Medio peso' repeated in the side margins. The upper portion carries the heading 'REPUBLICA ARGENTINA' in bold letterpress, below which the denomination 'Medio peso' and a handwritten serial number appear alongside the authorizing law reference 'Ley de 3.o de Octubre de 1860'. The body of the note contains a printed promise-to-pay text in Spanish issued from Paraná, with manuscript date and two signature lines for El Ministro de Hacienda and El Contador General, each bearing handwritten signatures, and an oval official seal in blue ink at lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse of this note appears to be plain, without printed design or lettering, consistent with simple typeset treasury obligations of the Argentine Confederation period. |
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| Comments |
The Tesorería General de la República Argentina occupied an unusual position in mid-nineteenth-century Argentine finance — it was a treasury office, not a bank, issuing paper obligations at a moment when no single central monetary authority yet existed. Provincial and national issuers competed chaotically throughout the 1850s and 1860s, and notes from the national treasury carried varying degrees of public confidence depending on where you were standing geographically and politically.
The PS prefix in the Pick catalogue designates this as a state or provincial issue rather than a central bank emission — useful context given how frequently Argentine fiscal instruments from this period get miscategorized.