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20 Bolivianos Banco Mercantil
| Issuer | Banco Mercantil |
|---|---|
| Year | 1906-1911 |
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| Value | 20 Bolivianos |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 20 ORURO, BOLIVIA EL BANCO MERCANTIL PAGARÁ Á LA VISTA AL PORTADOR VEINTE BOLIVIANOS EN MONEDA CORRIENTE POR EL CONTADOR DELEGADO DEL GOBIERNO P.P. DIRECTOR JERENTE American Bank Note Co. New York. (Translation: The Merchant Bank will pay the bearer on sight twenty bolivianos, in current currency. For the accountant. Government delegate. Managing director.) |
| Reverse description | Blue intaglio print. Central vignette presents an aerial view of the Plaza 14 de Septiembre (September 14 Square) in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Issuer name and printer imprint appear in the surrounding lettering. |
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| Comments |
Banco Mercantil was one of several Bolivian commercial banks granted note-issuing privileges under the 1890 banking law, a system that produced a chaotic plurality of circulating private paper until the Banco de la Nación Boliviana absorbed those rights in 1911 — the closing year of this note's issue period. The ABNC printed for dozens of Latin American institutions simultaneously, and their Bolivian commissions from this period share tooling and plate conventions that make attribution occasionally tricky when notes lack clear overprints.
Bolivia's monetary instability in these decades was driven largely by silver price collapses and the shift to the gold standard, which left private bank notes perpetually contested as stores of value in the altiplano interior.