Catalog
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| Issuer | Provincia de Buenos Aires - Ministerio de Hacienda / Aduana |
|---|---|
| Year | 1820 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 100 Pesos |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Plain white note with a Greek key meander border enclosing the entire face. A circular official seal of the Provincia de Buenos Aires with a coat of arms is centrally positioned at the top, dated 1820. Below the seal, the large letterpress legend VALE POR CIEN PESOS. appears in the central field, followed by the inscription Admisibles en Aduana en introducciones maritimas y terrestres. in smaller type. Two manuscript signatures appear in the lower half of the note, with handwritten serial number and issue notations in the upper corners. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Circular official seal of the Provincia de Buenos Aires with coat of arms, printed on the face of the note. |
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| Comments |
Buenos Aires in 1820 was in the thick of near-total institutional collapse — the Directorate had just fallen, the province was fighting off federalist militias, and the national treasury was functionally nonexistent. The Ministerio de Hacienda, operating without a functioning central bank or formal note-issuing framework, turned to the Aduana as the one revenue-generating body with enough credibility to back paper obligations. These customs-backed notes were fiscal instruments of desperation, not monetary policy.
The sole security feature was an official seal — no complex printing, no serial numbering system of consequence. Survival rate is extremely low, and most known examples show heavy handling consistent with commercial use at the port.