20 Bolivianos Banco Potosi

Banco Potosí was one of several regional Bolivian banks authorized to issue their own currency under the 1871 banking law, which allowed provincial institutions to print notes redeemable in silver — a practical necessity in a country where coin supply was chronically inadequate outside major centers. Potosí itself was the logical seat for such an institution, given its centuries-long role as Bolivia's primary silver-producing region.

The American Bank Note Company held a near-monopoly on South American commercial bank printing in this period, supplying institutions from Buenos Aires to Lima with engraved notes that the local market associated with legitimacy and anti-counterfeiting sophistication. Regional Bolivian bank notes from the 1880s are genuinely scarce — many institutions had short operational lives before the 1890 banking crisis forced consolidation.