Catalog
10 Pesos Oro
| Issuer | República de Colombia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1938 |
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| Currency | Peso decimalized (1847-date) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is executed in intaglio, with portrait vignettes of Francisco de Paula Santander at left and Simón Bolívar at right, each set within an oval frame against a fine guilloche underprint, and the large denomination numeral '10' centred between ornate scrollwork. The heading 'LA REPÚBLICA DE COLOMBIA' arches across the top, with the date 'Bogotá, 22 de Marzo de 1938' and the legislative reference 'Ley 33 de 1938' inscribed in the lower field. Three manuscript signature lines appear along the lower margin, attributed to the Minister of Finance, the Comptroller General, and the Contractor General, above the American Bank Note Company imprint. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse, printed in orange-brown, is centred on an oval vignette of the Colombian national coat of arms enclosed within elaborate guilloche lacework and symmetrical scrollwork borders. The denomination numeral '10' occupies each of the four corners within ornate cartouches, and the legend 'REPÚBLICA DE COLOMBIA' runs across the lower portion of the design. The American Bank Note Company imprint appears at the bottom margin. |
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| Comments |
The Banco de la República had been issuing notes through ABNC since the early 1920s, and by 1938 the relationship was well-established enough that the plates for this series were refined iterations of earlier designs rather than fresh commissions. Colombia's monetary policy in this period was shaped heavily by the 1923 Kemmerer Mission reforms, which restructured the central bank along orthodox lines and made long-term printing contracts with American firms politically attractive as signals of institutional stability.
The "Pesos Oro" designation distinguished these notes from the earlier paper-peso system — a distinction that still mattered to Colombian commerce in the late 1930s, two decades after bimetallism had effectively collapsed.