Catalog
| Issuer | Banco Nacional de la República de Colombia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1886 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Peso |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in black on white paper with a complex engraved layout. The bank title 'EL BANCO NACIONAL DE LA REPÚBLICA DE COLOMBIA' arches across the top, beneath which a central panel carries the promise text 'Pagará al portador á la vista' above the denomination 'UN PESO' in large bold lettering. Oval portrait vignettes of allegorical or historical figures occupy the upper left and upper right corners, flanked by ornate guilloche scrollwork and lathe-work borders; the date 'Bogotá, Septiembre 1º de 1886' and two manuscript signatures appear in the lower central area, with the serial number printed in red at lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | UN PESO 1 |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Comments |
The Banco Nacional de la República de Colombia was established in 1881 under the administration of Rafael Núñez, and its notes replaced the fractured currency output of the country's numerous private banks. This 1 Peso belongs to an early phase of that centralization — a deliberate political project as much as a monetary one, pushing back against the federalist banking arrangements of the prior decades.
Printed domestically in Bogotá rather than contracted abroad, as was common among Latin American issuers of the period, the production quality reflects the limitations of local printing infrastructure in the 1880s. That domestic origin makes this note historically distinct from the foreign-printed issues that followed later reforms.