10 Centavos

Banco del Estado was a regional institution operating in Colombia during the free banking period that preceded the establishment of the Banco de la República in 1923. The 10 centavos denomination points to fractional currency needs — small-change notes of this type were typically issued to compensate for chronic shortages of low-value coin in the interior, where transporting metal currency was expensive and losses from wear significant.

The P#S501 prefix indicates this is catalogued among Colombian state and private bank issues, a series that suffered enormous attrition through the civil conflicts of the period, particularly the Thousand Days War of 1899–1902. Notes from institutions caught in that disruption rarely survived in quantity.