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20 Pesos
| Issuer | Banco Nacional |
|---|---|
| Year | 1881 |
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| Composition | Cotton paper |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in black on cream paper with an intricate guilloche underprint repeating the numeral '20' and denomination border around all four margins. At center, a large intaglio vignette presents two allegorical female figures in a tropical landscape with palm trees and abundant foliage. To the lower right, a portrait vignette of a clergyman in clerical collar faces left. At upper left, a circular guilloche medallion carries the denomination 'VEINTE', mirrored by a lathe-work numeral '20' disc at upper right; a further 'VEINTE' cartouche appears at lower left. The imprint of the American Bank Note Company, N.Y. is visible along the lower border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | EL BANCO NACIONAL BUENOS AIRES, ENERO 1° DE 1883 VEINTE 20 Pagará al portador y a la vista Veinte Pesos moneda NACIONAL ORO, SEGÚN LEY DE 8 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 1881. INSPECTOR DE GOBIERNO DIRECTOR SERIE A American Bank Note Co. N.Y. |
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| Comments |
Banco Nacional was one of several private Colombian banks of issue operating under the 1865 banking framework, each authorized to print its own currency within regulated limits. By 1881, the American Bank Note Company in New York was the default choice for South American banking institutions that wanted engraved intaglio work — the security and prestige were simply unavailable domestically.
The PS prefix in the Pick numbering indicates this is catalogued under Colombia's private bank issues. Surviving examples from this series are genuinely scarce; Colombian private bank paper of this period suffered badly from the monetary upheaval of the 1880s, when the government moved to consolidate note-issuing authority and much of the outstanding private paper was withdrawn or simply lapsed.