Banco de Occidente was a regional commercial bank based in Cali, operating under Colombia's free banking period before the 1923 Kemmerer Mission reorganized the country's monetary structure and effectively ended private note-issuing rights. This note predates that reform by at most two years — any example dated 1923 or later was almost certainly printed in advance and held in inventory rather than freshly authorized under the incoming central banking framework.
Waterlow & Sons produced the series, as they did for numerous Latin American regional issuers during this period. The S-prefix Pick number flags it as a private bank issue, a classification that also signals restricted geographic acceptance — these notes circulated primarily in the Cauca Valley commercial corridor, not nationally.
Banco de Occidente was a regional commercial bank based in Cali, operating under Colombia's free banking period before the 1923 Kemmerer Mission reorganized the country's monetary structure and effectively ended private note-issuing rights. This note predates that reform by at most two years — any example dated 1923 or later was almost certainly printed in advance and held in inventory rather than freshly authorized under the incoming central banking framework.
Waterlow & Sons produced the series, as they did for numerous Latin American regional issuers during this period. The S-prefix Pick number flags it as a private bank issue, a classification that also signals restricted geographic acceptance — these notes circulated primarily in the Cauca Valley commercial corridor, not nationally.