12½ Centavos Crédito del Estado de Tamaulipas

Tamaulipas was among several Mexican states that issued fractional paper currency during the 1870s to address the chronic shortage of small-denomination coinage — a problem that federal minting capacity simply could not solve at the local level. State credit notes of this kind were technically obligations against future tax revenue, not bank liabilities, which gave them a legally ambiguous status that merchants frequently exploited as grounds to refuse them.

At 60 × 32 mm, this is among the smallest pieces of paper currency issued by any Mexican state authority. Survival rates for Tamaulipas fractionals are low — the denomination made them disposable, and the paper stock used for these emergency emissions was rarely robust.