20 Centavos

The South American Bank Note Company operated in Buenos Aires as a local subsidiary printing operation, and this fractional note is among the earlier examples of Argentine national banking paper produced domestically rather than sent to London or New York. The 1892–1893 dating places this issue squarely in the aftermath of the Baring Crisis — the near-collapse of Baring Brothers in 1890 had been triggered largely by overextended Argentine sovereign debt, and the years following saw the Banco de la Nación Argentina, founded in 1891 to replace the failed Banco Nacional, scrambling to establish credible small-denomination circulation.

Fractional centavo notes from this period survive poorly; they circulated hard and were treated as disposable.