100 Pesos Banco de la Union

Banco de la Unión was one of several private commercial banks chartered in Colombia during the 1880s under a free-banking regime that permitted note issuance without a central authority. The American Bank Note Company was the prestige choice for Latin American clients in this period — expensive, but the engraved intaglio work was difficult to counterfeit and carried institutional credibility that locally printed notes simply could not.

The bank's charter was short-lived. Colombian banking legislation shifted dramatically in the early 1890s, and most of the private issuing banks were wound down or absorbed before the decade closed. Surviving examples from this series are uncommon precisely because circulation was geographically limited and the redemption window was brief.