100 Soles

The Banco del Perú was a short-lived Lima institution, chartered in the early 1870s during a period of intense banking proliferation in Peru fueled by guano revenue and loose credit. By the time notes like this one were reaching circulation, the fiscal architecture underpinning that boom was already cracking. The bank did not survive the broader collapse that preceded the War of the Pacific.

ABNC printed for dozens of Latin American issuers during this period, and the quality of the engraving work generally outpaced the solvency of the institutions placing the orders. Whether significant quantities of this 100 Soles denomination ever circulated before the bank's failure is unclear — high-denomination notes from failed issuers of this era often did not.