20 Pesos

The Banco Hipotecario de la Provincia de Buenos Aires was a mortgage bank, not a commercial one — its notes were backed by land rather than specie or government bonds. The 1891 date places this squarely in the aftermath of the Baring Crisis, when Argentina's financial system collapsed under speculative debt and the country was effectively insolvent. Provincial mortgage banks continued issuing paper during this period, though confidence in their instruments varied sharply by region.

Printed in-house by the Talleres del Banco de la Plata, this is one of relatively few Argentine provincial issues produced domestically rather than contracted to European printers like Bradbury Wilkinson or the American Bank Note Company.