10 Bolivianos

Banco Potosí was one of several regional private banks authorized under Bolivia's 1871 banking law, which allowed provincial institutions to issue their own currency — a fragmented system that persisted until the Banco de la Nación Boliviana was established in 1911 and gradually absorbed or displaced the private issuers. The American Bank Note Company contract reflects the era's standard practice for South American banks that wanted engraved notes credible enough to discourage counterfeiting in silver-mining regions where scrutiny of paper was intense.

Potosí's mining economy made paper currency a hard sell locally. Notes from this bank tend to show either very light or very heavy circulation — almost nothing in between.