Catalog
10 Pesos
| Issuer | Vicente B. Villa e Hijos, Medellín |
|---|---|
| Year | |
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| Reference(s) | P#S923 |
| Obverse description | The left portion carries a vignette of a seated male figure in peasant attire amid agricultural scenery, set within a vertical panel against a fine guilloche underprint. To the right, a large central vignette presents an allegorical female figure reclining beside a bull, rendered in detailed intaglio engraving. The issuer's name VICENTE B. VILLA E HIJOS arcs above the central vignette, with the denomination DIEZ PESOS and place of issue Medellin inscribed below in ornate letterpress, accompanied by the promise-to-pay legend PAGARÁN AL PORTADOR Y A LA VISTA LA CANTIDAD DE. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | DIEZ PESOS DIEZ PESOS |
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| Comments |
Vicente B. Villa e Hijos was a commercial house in Medellín — not a bank in the institutional sense — one of several Colombian merchant firms licensed to issue private paper currency during the late nineteenth century, when the federal government's grip on monetary emission was loose enough to permit it. Colombia's 1880s banking legislation, and particularly the chaos that followed the abolition of the free banking regime, created conditions where merchant-backed notes circulated alongside state and national bank issues without much friction.
The ABNCo contract for this series reflects the ambition of the issuer — private firms commissioning New York-engraved notes were signaling creditworthiness to a skeptical public as much as anything else.