10 Centavos

El Banco Español de la Habana was the only bank of issue in Cuba during Spanish colonial rule, and its authority to print fractional notes like this one came directly from the colonial administration in Madrid — a concession that generated considerable resentment from Cuban merchants who had little say in monetary policy. The decade spanning this series was turbulent: the Ten Years' War had recently ended (1878), and the island's economy was still absorbing the disruption.

The printer, Compañía Nacional de Billetes de Banco, was the New York arm of the American Bank Note Company's broader network, operating under a separate corporate name during this period.