Catalog
20 Soles
| Issuer | Banco de Lima |
|---|---|
| Year | 1875 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 20 Soles |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Central vignette of a seated allegorical female figure flanked by a sailing ship vignette to the left and a figure of Mercury or a similar classical figure to the right, all set within an ornate guilloche border. The denomination numeral '20' appears at upper left and upper right, with the serial number printed in red below. The issuing bank name and the written denomination 'Veinte Soles' appear in the central text panel in letterpress, with the place and date of issue 'Lima' and '1875' inscribed below. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | EL BANCO DE LIMA Veinte Soles en moneda Lima |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Banco de Lima was one of several private commercial banks chartered in Peru during the early 1870s credit boom, a period when guano revenue expectations were still shaping fiscal policy despite the trade already being in decline. The bank had a short institutional life — Peru's severe economic crisis of the mid-to-late 1870s, compounded by the coming War of the Pacific, effectively gutted the private banking sector. Notes issued this close to that collapse rarely saw extended circulation.
The American Bank Note Company engraved and printed the series in New York under contract, a common arrangement for South American issuers who lacked domestic security printing capacity. Surviving examples of Banco de Lima issues in any denomination are genuinely scarce.