Catalog
2 Reales Plata Boliviana
| Issuer | Otero y Cía., Córdoba |
|---|---|
| Year | 1869 |
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| Currency | Real (1813-1881) |
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| Obverse description | The note is enclosed within an ornate border of repeated floral and geometric guilloche work, with large numeral 2 corner vignettes at each angle. The issuer's name OTERO Y CA. arcs in bold letterpress across the upper portion, centred below which a vignette presents a sailing vessel; the denomination DOS REALES appears in bold type beneath. A manuscript promise-to-pay legend at foot references payment in Plata Boliviana or its equivalent in moneda de ley, with the place-and-date line reading Córdoba, Abril 1° de 1869. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | OTERO Y CA. DOS REALES Córdoba, Abril 1° de 1869 SALE POR Pagaremos a la vista 1/5 peso plata boliviana o su equivalente en moneda de ley al portador de cuatro de estos billetes POR OTERO FCO |
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| Comments |
Otero y Cía. was a private commercial house in Córdoba, not a chartered bank, which makes this note an unusual artifact of Argentina's pre-banking regulation period — when merchant firms could and did issue their own circulating paper. The denomination in Reales Plata Boliviana is telling: Bolivia's silver coinage was the dominant medium of exchange across the interior provinces well into the 1860s, and this note's value was pegged to that coinage rather than to any Argentine monetary standard.
Provincial private issues of this type rarely survived in quantity. Most were redeemed, refused, or simply worn out of existence within a few years of issue.