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1 Peso El Banco de Occidente en Quezaltenango
| Issuer | Banco de Occidente en Quezaltenango |
|---|---|
| Year | 1900-1921 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Black intaglio on light-green guilloche underprint. At left, an oval vignette contains a three-quarter portrait of a young woman wearing a floral wreath in her hair, framed by a decorative floral border with the arc inscription REPÚBLICA DE GUATEMALA. To the right of the portrait, a central vignette shows agricultural workers harvesting sugar cane in a tropical landscape. The denomination UN PESO appears in a bold cartouche below the central vignette, flanked by the red serial number printed twice, with the place and date of issue inscribed above in manuscript-style lettering. Three manuscript signatures of bank officials appear at the bottom, identified below as DIRECTOR, DIRECTOR, and GERENTE, above the printer's imprint. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed entirely in dark brown on cream paper. The central design is dominated by the Guatemalan national coat of arms within an elaborate scrollwork and guilloche surround, showing the quetzal bird perched on a scroll inscribed LIBERTAD 15 DE SET. DE 1821, with rifles, a laurel wreath, and crossed swords below. The arc inscription BANCO DE OCCIDENTE curves above the arms and QUEZALTENANGO curves below. Symmetrical denomination panels inscribed UN PESO appear at left and right within ornate lathe-work frames. The printer's imprint is present at the bottom centre. |
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| Comments |
Banco de Occidente en Quezaltenango was one of several regional Guatemalan private banks granted note-issuing rights under the 1874 banking legislation, operating out of the country's second city rather than the capital. The bank survived the 1924 monetary reform that nationalized currency issuance longer than most of its rivals, though its circulating notes were ultimately retired when the Quetzal was established as Guatemala's sole currency.
Waterlow & Sons handled the printing through what was a long-running commercial relationship with Central American issuers. The unusually narrow format for a peso-denomination note likely reflects a cost-saving specification from the client rather than any Waterlow house standard.