| Description de l’avers |
Central vignette of an ox cart laden with sugarcane, flanked by two large guilloche rosettes bearing the numeral "10" in the upper corners. The bank title "EL BANCO ESPAÑOL DE LA ISLA DE CUBA" is inscribed in bold letterpress across the lower portion, beneath which a green underprint carries the written denomination "DIEZ" with the date "HABANA, 15 de Mayo de 1896". Three signature lines for El Gobernador, El Consejero, and El Cajero appear at the bottom, with the printer's imprint of the American Bank Note Co., New York along the lower border. |
| Légende de l’avers |
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| Description du revers |
The reverse repeats the central ox-cart vignette within the same intaglio-printed composition as the obverse, framed by guilloche rosettes bearing the numeral "10" in each upper corner and a continuous border of repeated numerals "10" along all edges. The bank title and denomination underprint are rendered in dark ink against the green guilloche background, giving the note a near-identical appearance to the face, a design choice typical of American Bank Note Company issues of the period. |
| Légende du revers |
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| Signature(s) |
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| Type de protection |
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| Description de la protection |
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| Variantes |
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El Banco Español de la Isla de Cuba issued this note in 1896 — three years into the catastrophic Ten Years' War's successor conflict, the Cuban War of Independence, with the island's colonial economy under serious strain. Spain was pouring resources into a failing military campaign, and the bank, which held a monopoly on note issue, faced mounting pressure to finance government obligations. Notes of this period circulated in an environment of deep public distrust, and many were exchanged at discount against specie.
The American Bank Note Company contract is worth noting: by the 1890s, ABNC was the dominant printer for Latin American and Caribbean colonial issues, and the engraving quality on this series is characteristic of their top-tier work from that decade. Cuban independence in 1898 rendered the bank's entire note issue obsolete almost immediately.