Catalog
1 Real Boliviano
| Issuer | Banco de San Juan - Sucursal (Branch) San Juan |
|---|---|
| Year | 1874 |
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| Value | 1 Real Boliviano |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is framed by a repeated guilloche border bearing the legend 'UN REAL' at each corner and along all four sides. The central area carries the bold letterpress inscription 'EL BANCO DE SAN JUAN' across the upper register, below which an oval cartouche reads 'UN VALE POR 1 UN REAL'. A handwritten text in the lower portion states the note is payable on sight for one Boliviano peso in current currency to the bearer upon presentation of eight such vales, dated 'San Juan, Mayo 1° de 1874', with the manuscript notation 'Por el Banco'. A large 'MUESTRA' (Specimen) overprint appears diagonally across the centre, and the serial prefix 'N°C' is printed in the upper middle area. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | EL BANCO DE SAN JUAN UN VALE POR 1 UN REAL Pagará a la vista UN PESO Boliviano moneda corriente al portador de Ocho de estos vales. San Juan, Mayo 1° de 1874 Por el Banco MUESTRA N°C UN REAL |
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| Comments |
Banco de San Juan was one of several Argentine provincial banks chartered under the 1854 banking law that allowed provinces to issue their own currency before national consolidation swept them out. The San Juan branch notes of 1874 occupy an awkward moment — the Banco Nacional was already pressing for uniformity, and provincial paper was increasingly distrusted outside its home province. A 1 Real Boliviano denomination signals that San Juan's commercial ties ran south and west toward Bolivia and Chile rather than east toward Buenos Aires.
The "Boliviano" unit persisted in Andean Argentina long after Buenos Aires had largely abandoned it, a regional pricing habit that outlasted the coins themselves.