1/2 Real Plata Boliviana

The Banco Argentino operated out of Rosario during the brief window when provincial and private banks in Argentina were free to issue their own paper currency — before the banking reforms of the 1870s and eventually the Banco Nacional's monopoly tightened federal control over emission. Rosario was the commercial hub of Santa Fe province, and fractional notes like this half-real denomination existed because small silver coin was chronically scarce in everyday trade.

The plata boliviana denomination is significant: Bolivian silver pesos circulated widely in the Argentine interior and were a recognized unit of account well into the 1870s, making this note a direct response to the actual currency mix on the ground rather than a purely domestic accounting convention.