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2 Reales Bolivianos
| Issuer | Banco J. Benites é Hijo |
|---|---|
| Year | 1867 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | The upper portion bears the letterpress heading 'EL BANCO J. BENITES E HIJO' above the place and date inscriptions, with the denomination 'DOS REALES BOLIVIANOS' in a central panel flanked by two vignettes: a seated allegorical female figure holding scales to the left, and a reclining ox beside a strongbox to the right. A manuscript promise-to-pay text in Spanish runs across the lower portion, countersigned 'pp J. Benites é hijo,' with a printed serial number and letter prefix in the upper left corner. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | EL BANCO J. BENITES E HIJO GUALEGUAYCHÚ ENERO 1º DE 1867 DOS REALES BOLIVIANOS 2 pp J. Benites é hijo |
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| Comments |
Banco J. Benites é Hijo was a private commercial bank operating out of Tarija, the southernmost department of Bolivia — geographically and economically closer to Argentina than to La Paz. That proximity explains why the notes were printed across the border rather than through any European house, an unusual arrangement for Bolivian private banking of the period.
The 1867 dating places this squarely in the era of Bolivia's fractured private banking experiment, before any formal framework for note-issuing banks existed in the country. Benites was operating largely on commercial reputation alone. Very few notes from this issuer survive in any condition; the bank's reach was regional and its circulation life almost certainly short.