Catalog
10 Bolivianos
| Issuer | Banco Potosí |
|---|---|
| Year | 1894 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | First boliviano (1864-1963) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in dark green with a central intaglio vignette of a seated allegorical female figure, possibly representing Commerce or the Arts, accompanied by a bust sculpture, urns, and books arranged at her feet. The vignette is framed by an ornate oval border with fine lathe-work guilloche, surrounded by four corner panels each bearing the numeral '10'. The inscriptions 'BANCO' and 'POTOSÍ' appear in bold rectangular cartouches to the left and right respectively. |
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| Variants | P#S233s - Specimen |
| Comments |
Banco Potosí was one of several Bolivian regional banks authorized to issue private currency under the 1890 banking law, which broke the note-issuing monopoly previously held by larger La Paz–based institutions. The bank's operating life was short — within a decade, the 1906 Bolivian banking reforms stripped private banks of their right to circulate paper currency entirely, centralizing all emission under state authority.
ABNC produced plates for a substantial number of Latin American private banks during this period, often recycling border and lathe-work elements across contracts while customizing the central vignettes. Series survival from Bolivian provincial issuers of the 1890s is generally low, partly because redemption periods were compressed during the transition to state banking.