Catalog
1 Peso
| Issuer | Banco Centro-Americano |
|---|---|
| Year | 1888 |
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| Value | 1 Peso |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by a central vignette of a female portrait bust with floral headpiece, flanked on each side by the numeral '1' set within ornate guilloche panels. To the left, an oval vignette presents the coat of arms of Honduras surrounded by fine lathe-work. The denomination 'UN PESO' appears in large letters across the lower centre, with the issuing text 'EL BANCO CENTRO-AMERICANO PAGARÁ AL PORTADOR EN MONEDA EFECTIVA' running along the upper portion, and the place and date line 'República de Honduras, Tegucigalpa, Noviembre 30 de 1888' below the central design. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | EL BANCO CENTRO-AMERICANO PAGARÁ AL PORTADOR EN MONEDA EFECTIVA UNO UN PESO República de Honduras, Tegucigalpa, Noviembre 30 de 1888 EL DIRECTOR EL MINISTRO DE HACIENDA EL GERENTE |
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| Comments |
The Banco Centro-Americano was a short-lived institution operating in Guatemala during the late nineteenth century, when the country's banking sector was fragmented among multiple competing private banks of issue — each printing its own currency with little central oversight. The American Bank Note Company held a near-monopoly on prestige banknote printing for Latin American clients in this period, and Guatemalan banks regularly contracted through New York regardless of their actual financial footing.
Pick 131 is genuinely rare in the market. The bank's operating life was brief, redemption records are poor, and surviving examples surface infrequently at auction.