1 Peso overprint on P#S411 - Banco de Santiago

Chile's Emisión Fiscal series of the late 1890s arose from the government's decision to nationalize paper currency issuance following years of chaotic competition among private banks, each printing their own notes. Rather than commission entirely new plates, the fiscal authorities overprinted existing private bank stock — in this case, unissued Banco de Santiago sheets — with government authority markings, converting private commercial paper into legal tender at a stroke.

The ABNC's involvement predates the overprint; the original Banco de Santiago plates were their work. The overprinting itself was a domestic operation, applied in Santiago to notes that had never seen circulation in their original form.