Catalog
20 Centavos Fuertes
| Issuer | Banco de Cuyo |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse presents a classical female vignette at left, rendered in fine intaglio, portraying a young woman with a laurel wreath in her hair. The central field carries the bank title EL BANCO DE CUYO in bold letterpress, above the denomination VEINTE within a framed panel, with Centavos Fuertes en moneda de ley below. Guilloche rosettes and ornamental lathe-work appear in each corner bearing the numeral 20, with the place of issue San Juan and a partially printed date at bottom. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Serie C. Nº 100001 EL BANCO DE CUYO pagará al portador y a la vista VEINTE Centavos Fuertes en moneda de ley. San Juan Por el Banco 18 |
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| Comments |
The Banco de Cuyo was one of several provincial Argentine banks authorized to issue currency under the 1854 banking law, operating out of Mendoza to serve the western provinces. "Fuertes" — strong pesos — distinguished these notes from the depreciated paper pesos corrientes then flooding circulation in Buenos Aires and elsewhere. The distinction mattered enormously to merchants trading across the Andes.
Provincial bank issues from this period were often printed in very small quantities and redeemed quickly as institutional failures mounted through the late 1860s. The Banco de Cuyo collapsed before the national currency unification of 1883, making surviving fractional notes genuinely rare.