Catalog
20 Pesos
| Issuer | Banco de Concepción |
|---|---|
| Year | 1883 |
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| Reference(s) | P#180 |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | EL BANCO DE CONCEPCION PAGARÁ AL PORTADOR Á LA VISTA EN CONCEPCION Veinte Pesos Concepcion, Chile, Julio 2 de 11 en moneda corriente SUPERINTENDENTE DE LA CASA DE MONEDA CONTADOR DIRECTOR JERENTE American Bank Note Co. New York 20 VEINTE |
| Reverse description | Printed in orange-red on white paper, the reverse is dominated by an elaborate symmetrical guilloche design with large '20' numerals at left and right within foliate cartouches. A central oval vignette contains a finely engraved portrait of a young woman in three-quarter view, her hair adorned with flowers. The bank name is split across two curved tablets — 'EL BANCO' at the top and 'DE CONCEPCION' at the bottom — framing the central portrait, with the printer's imprint along the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
The Banco de Concepción was one of several Chilean regional banks that gained note-issuing rights under the 1860 banking law, which deliberately fragmented currency authority across provincial institutions rather than centralizing it. By the 1880s, ABNC had become the de facto printer for most of these smaller Chilean issuers — the plates were competent, the paper reliable, and the security features difficult to replicate locally.
Concepción's banking sector took a hard blow during the 1879–1884 War of the Pacific, when wartime fiscal pressure pushed the government toward forced inconvertibility of paper notes. This 1883 issue lands squarely in that period of suspended specie payments.