20 Pesos

Corrientes was the only Argentine province to issue its own currency and maintain it in effective local circulation for decades after the national government began consolidating monetary authority. This 20 Pesos note dates from 1861, when the Casa de Moneda y Banco de la Província de Corrientes was still operating as a genuine provincial institution — not a relic, but an active competitor to porteño financial dominance. The province's refusal to surrender its currency-issuing power was partly political obstinacy, partly geographic necessity: Corrientes was remote, its trade routes ran as much toward Paraguay and Uruguay as toward Buenos Aires.

Paper quality on surviving examples from this series tends to be fragile along fold lines, a known weakness attributed to the thinner stock used in the early 1860s issues.