Catalog
1 Real Plata Boliviana
| Issuer | Banco Argentino, Rosario |
|---|---|
| Year | 1866 |
| Type | Local banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Brown intaglio-printed note with a central oval vignette of a standing bull in a pastoral landscape, flanked on the left by a gaucho figure with a rifle and a seated woman with a child, and on the right by a reclining allegorical female figure. The numeral '5' appears in the upper corners, with the issuer's name 'EL BANCO ARGENTINO' in bold letterpress across the centre, the denomination 'CINCO PESOS' in a highlighted band below, and the place and date 'Rosario, 1° Noviembre, 1866' inscribed in manuscript. A lathe-work border of repeated 'CINCO' runs along the top margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | EL BANCO ARGENTINO CINCO PESOS 5 5 5 |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Banco Argentino operated out of Rosario during a period when Argentina's interior provinces were running well ahead of any coherent national banking framework. Buenos Aires did not establish the Banco Nacional until 1872, so provincial commercial banks like this one filled the void, each issuing their own notes with varying degrees of public confidence. The denomination in reales plata boliviana is telling — the Bolivian silver real was still functioning as a practical unit of account in the Argentine interior long after Spanish colonial coinage had formally ceased.
ABNC's involvement was typical of the period's South American commissions, with engraved plates shipped from New York to back institutions that sometimes survived only a few years of operation.