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10 Centavos / 1 Real Banco Nacional de Colombia
| Issuer | Banco Nacional de Colombia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1885 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress on green guilloche underprint, with the Colombian national arms vignette at left within an oval frame. The denomination numeral "10" appears in a large ornate cartouche at upper right, surrounded by lathe-work border elements. Red serial number printed to the right of center, with three manuscript signatures below the issuing legends. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO NACIONAL DE COLOMBIA pagará al portador á la vista DIEZ CENTAVOS BOGOTÁ, 5 DE AGOSTO DE 1885. EL DIRECTOR GERENTE DIRECTOR 2° DIRECTOR 3° THE HOMER LEE CO. DE BILLETES DE BANCO NUEVA YORK (Translation: The National Bank of Colombia Pay to bearer at sight Ten Cents Bogota, August 5, 1885. The Managing Director 2nd Director 3rd Director The Homer Lee Co. of Bank Notes, New York) |
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| Comments |
The Banco Nacional de Colombia was a state-owned institution established in 1881 specifically to give the national government direct control over currency issuance — wresting that function away from the private banks that had dominated Colombian finance through the 1870s. This note was issued during one of the most turbulent periods in Colombian monetary history: the War of 1885, a civil conflict that strained government finances severely and accelerated the shift toward inconvertible paper currency that would define the following decade.
Homer Lee Bank Note Co. of New York printed the series. The dual denomination — 10 Centavos on one face, 1 Real on the other — reflects the coexistence of the decimal peso system alongside the older real-based accounting that remained in popular use in parts of the country.