Catalog
2 Pesos Banco de A. Edwards y Ca.
| Issuer | Banco de A. Edwards y Ca. |
|---|---|
| Year | 1878 |
| Type | Local banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | DOS PESOS 2 EL BANCO DE A. EDWARDS Y CA. Pagará al portador á la vista DOS PESOS moneda corriente. Valparaiso 2 de Enero 1878. SUPERINTENDENTE DE LA CASA DE MONEDA POR EL BANCO BRADBURY, WILKINSON & Co, ENGRAVERS, LONDON. (Translation: Two pesos. The Bank of A. Edwards and Co. will pay the bearer on sight two pesos, current currency. Valparaiso January 2, 1878. Superintendent of the Mint. For the bank.) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | 2 DOS DOS PESOS (Translation: Two pesos.) |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Banco de A. Edwards y Ca. was one of Chile's major private issuing banks during the free banking period that preceded the 1925 establishment of the Banco Central de Chile. The Edwards family, whose banking interests stretched across Valparaíso and Santiago, were among the most financially powerful dynasties in nineteenth-century Chile — Agustín Edwards Ross had built the institution on commercial credit tied heavily to the nitrate and copper export trade.
Bradbury, Wilkinson engraved and printed for dozens of Latin American private banks during this period, and their Chilean commissions are among the more carefully executed. The 1878 date matters: Chile suspended convertibility the following year under pressure from the War of the Pacific's financial strain, and private bank notes became inconvertible paper almost overnight.