Catalog
1 Peso
| Issuer | Banco Español de Puerto Rico |
|---|---|
| Year | 1895 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Black on yellow underprint. A portrait vignette of a male figure appears at left, with counterfoils at both lateral margins. The design is executed in letterpress with fine guilloche patterning in the underprint. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in blue, the reverse is dominated by the crowned arms of Spain at center, flanked by decorative foliate vignettes. The denomination '1 PESO' appears to the right of the central shield, with the inscription 'ULTRAMAR' in large letters at the far right. The lower portion carries the legend 'BILLETE DE CANJE' within a banner, and vertical security text runs along the right margin. |
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| Comments |
The Banco Español de Puerto Rico was one of two privileged colonial banks operating under Spanish charter in the Caribbean during the final decade of Spanish rule. This 1895 issue came at a moment of genuine political instability — the Cuban insurrection had reignited the previous year, and nervousness about Spain's grip on its remaining American colonies was already affecting colonial credit. The bank's notes circulated alongside Spanish Treasury obligations and were not always warmly received by a commercial class that had long preferred hard currency.
Pedro Maura's Madrid workshop handled engraving for several Spanish colonial issues of this period. Puerto Rico reverted to U.S. administration in 1898, and the bank's outstanding notes were subsequently subject to redemption under American monetary arrangements — survivors of that transition are not common.