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20 Centavos Asunción Tramway Light & Power Co.
| Issuer | Asunción Tramway Light & Power Co. |
|---|---|
| Year | 1913-1915 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress on green-blue tinted paper, with an elaborate guilloche border of repeating ornamental cartouches enclosing the entire face. The issuer's name appears in bold display type across the top, flanked on each side by a circular guilloche medallion enclosing the numeral '20'. A cursive script promise-to-pay text occupies the centre field, below which the denomination 'VEINTE CENTAVOS' is set in heavy block lettering with 'MONEDA NACIONAL CURSO LEGAL' beneath. A serial number and series letter are printed in red at the lower left, with a manuscript signature at lower right. The printer's imprint appears at the bottom margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Uniform brown letterpress print entirely without text, centred on a large ornate guilloche rosette of densely engraved foliate and acanthus scrollwork from which the bold white numeral '20' emerges at centre. Flanking the central rosette are two symmetrical fan-scroll vignettes, and the whole composition is enclosed within a multi-band border combining Greek-key meander friezes with scalloped and dentil ornamental strips, corner medallions repeating the floral motif. |
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| Comments |
The Asunción Tramway Light & Power Co. was a British-registered concern operating Paraguay's urban transit and electrical infrastructure in the early twentieth century. Its decision to issue small-denomination fiduciary notes — effectively scrip — reflects the chronic shortage of low-value coin in Asunción at the time, a problem that afflicted much of the Río de la Plata region and drove private operators to plug the gap themselves.
The Compañía Sudamericana de Billetes de Banco handled most of the serious private printing work in the Southern Cone during this period before folding in 1918. Their involvement gives this scrip considerably more technical polish than most transit-company emergency issues.