Catalog
1/2 Real
| Issuer | Banco de Londres y Río de La Plata, Córdoba |
|---|---|
| Year | 1869 |
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| Currency | Real (1813-1881) |
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| Obverse description | The note is framed by an elaborate engraved border of repetitive ornamental medallions, with the fraction '½' repeated at each corner. The bank name 'BANCO DE LONDRES Y RIO DE LA PLATA' is printed in bold letterpress across the top, above a central oval vignette of a steam locomotive in profile, flanked by the inscriptions 'VALE POR' to the left and '½ REAL' to the right. Below the vignette, a Spanish-language promise of payment of one Bolivian peso or its legal equivalent to the bearer upon presentation of sixteen such notes is dated 'Córdoba, 15 de Noviembre de 1869', with a manuscript signature at the foot. |
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| Obverse lettering | BANCO DE LONDRES Y RIO DE LA PLATA Nº VALE POR ½ REAL MEDIO REAL MEDIO REAL Pagaremos a la vista UN Peso moneda boliviana en efectivo ó su equivalente en moneda de ley al portador de Diez y Seis de estos vales Córdoba, 15 de Noviembre de 1869 Por el Banco UN MEDIO REAL |
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| Comments |
The Banco de Londres y Río de La Plata was a British-chartered institution operating across Argentina in the 1860s, and its Córdoba branch issues are among the more localized and short-lived of the series. The ½ Real denomination is fractional in the strictest sense — far below the bank's standard commercial paper — and its existence reflects real small-change shortages in the interior provinces during this period, where metallic coin rarely penetrated in adequate quantity.
PS1721 survivors are genuinely scarce. Córdoba branch notes of any denomination from this bank rarely surface, and the fractional issues least of all.