Catalog
1 Boliviano
| Issuer | Banco Potosí |
|---|---|
| Year | 1887 |
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| Printer | American Bank Note Company |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in dark blue and green tones, with the bank title BANCO POTOSÍ in large letters across the top and the legend PAGARÁ AL PORTADOR below. To the left, a classical allegorical female figure is seated beside a safe, rendered in intaglio style within a framed vignette. To the right, a portrait of a bearded gentleman appears in an oval vignette. The central text reads UN BOLIVIANO / EN MONEDA CORRIENTE, with the date Sucre, Enero 1° de 1887 and manuscript signature lines for the Delegado del Gobierno and Director Gerente, beneath a guilloche underprint. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | BANCO POTOSÍ UN BOLIVIANO AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY, NEW YORK |
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| Comments |
Banco Potosí was one of several Bolivian departmental banks authorized under the 1871 banking law, each permitted to issue its own notes — a deliberately decentralized arrangement that reflected the political fragility of a country that had lost its Pacific coast to Chile just years earlier. The American Bank Note Company handled the engraving and printing for much of this series, as it did for numerous South American issuers during this period.
Departmental bank circulation in Bolivia was notoriously uneven. Notes issued in Potosí, the old silver city, often struggled to gain acceptance at par in La Paz or Cochabamba. The 1890s banking consolidation effectively ended Banco Potosí's issuing rights, making 1887-dated notes among the later survivals from this institution.