Catalog
20 Pesos Fuertes
| Issuer | Banco de Cuyo |
|---|---|
| Year | |
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| Currency | Peso Fuerte (1826-1899) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in green and pink tones on a fine guilloche underprint. At upper left, an oval vignette contains a portrait of a young woman in classical allegorical style, wreath-crowned, above a tablet inscribed VEINTE PESOS. Below, a second oval vignette presents a steam locomotive in landscape, labelled VEINTE PESOS FUERTES. The central field carries the bank title EL BANCO DE CUYO in bold letterpress, with the promise text pagaria al portador y a la vista and the denomination VEINTE PESOS FUERTES; the numeral 20 and the word VEINTE repeat in the borders and side panels. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 20 SPECIMEN B.W.&Co. LONDON C |
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| Comments |
Banco de Cuyo operated out of Mendoza, one of several provincial banks that briefly held note-issuing authority in Argentina during the mid-nineteenth century before federal consolidation stripped that right away. The London printing connection was entirely typical for Argentine provincial banks of this period — Bradbury, Wilkinson had a substantial South American client base precisely because domestic printing infrastructure could not yet match the security features demanded of fiduciary currency.
The "Fuertes" designation was not decorative. It specifically distinguished hard-currency-backed notes from the inflated paper monies already circulating elsewhere in the region.