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20 Centavos Compañia de Obras Públicas y Fomento del Perú
| Issuer | Compañia de Obras Públicas y Fomento del Perú |
|---|---|
| Year | 1876 |
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| Value | 20 Centavos (0.20 PEH) |
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| Obverse description | Black and green on brown underprint. A vignette at left center depicts a steam locomotive passing beneath the Verrugas railway bridge on the Línea de la Oroya; a green guilloche panel at center carries the denomination in large numerals as an underprint; a red serial number appears at upper center. The issuer's name and obligation text are set in letterpress across the face, with the printer's imprint along the lower border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | La Compañia de Obras Publicas y Fomento del Perú 20 Pagará al portador VEINTE CENTAVOS en moneda corriente. Lima, Julio 4 de 1876. DIRECTOR PRESIDENTE Compañia Nacional de Billetes de Banco. Nuevo York. (Translation: The Public Works and Development Company of Peru will pay to the bearer Twenty Cents in current currency. Lima, July 4, 1876. National Bank Note Company. New York.) |
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| Comments |
The Compañía de Obras Públicas y Fomento del Perú was a French-backed infrastructure concessionaire granted sweeping privileges by the Peruvian government in the early 1870s to build railways, drain Lake Titicaca, and colonize eastern territories — an almost absurdly ambitious portfolio. These fractional notes were issued as a functional substitute for small coin, which had effectively disappeared from circulation as Peru's guano-debt economy lurched toward collapse. The National Bank Note Company in New York printed them, the same firm responsible for early U.S. federal currency.
Peru's 1876 default and the subsequent War of the Pacific rendered the company's concessions worthless within a few years of this note's issue.