100 Pesos

Banco de Valparaíso was one of several Chilean private banks authorized to issue currency under the Ley de Bancos of 1860, which permitted note-issuing privileges to chartered institutions without a central bank to regulate them. The arrangement produced a fragmented but functional currency system that lasted until the Estado began forcing redemption requirements in the late 1870s — pressure that pushed several provincial banks toward insolvency well before the War of the Pacific disrupted trade through the port entirely.

The American Bank Note Company handled Chilean private bank commissions extensively during this period, supplying intaglio-printed notes to multiple competing institutions simultaneously. Surviving examples from this 1877 issue tend to show horizontal fold wear consistent with cashier drawer storage rather than heavy hand-to-hand circulation.