10 Bolivianos

The Banco Nacional de Bolivia was established in 1871 with a concession from the Bolivian government and for a period held a dominant — though never exclusive — position in the country's note-issuing market. By the early 1880s, several competing regional banks had their own ABNC-printed issues in circulation, creating a fragmented currency environment that would persist until the Banco de la Nación Boliviana consolidated issuance in the early twentieth century.

American Bank Note Company held the printing contract throughout this series. The 1883 date places this note just two years after Bolivia's defeat in the War of the Pacific, which stripped the country of its coastal territory and severely disrupted trade revenues — circumstances that put real pressure on private bank note circulation.