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20 Soles
| Issuer | Banco del Perú |
|---|---|
| Year | 1877 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by a central vignette of a female portrait bust set within a radiating sunburst guilloche at top centre, with a second vignette at left showing a standing allegorical female figure. The bold bank title "BANCO DEL PERU" arcs across the upper centre field, with the denomination text "Vale VEINTE Soles" below in letterpress. Manuscript date reading "Lima, 4 de Diciembre de 1862" and two handwritten signatures appear in the lower portion, flanked by repeating "20" underprint panels and ornate lathe-work borders. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in a salmon-pink underprint with two large ornate "20" numeral panels in dark ink at left and right, formed by intricate lathe-work guilloche. The issuer inscription "BANCO DEL PERU" and denomination "VEINTE SOLES" appear in the central field, which also bears a large oval handstamp. A series letter "A" and serial number appear in the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
The Banco del Perú was one of several private commercial banks chartered in Lima during the early 1870s credit boom, a period when the Peruvian government's guano revenues were beginning to falter and private banking had stepped in to fill the resulting liquidity gap. By 1877, that expansion was already under serious stress — the guano market had collapsed, nitrate revenues were not yet sufficient compensation, and the fiscal crisis that would ultimately detonate the War of the Pacific was taking shape. Notes from this bank circulated against a backdrop of genuine public uncertainty about convertibility.
ABNC engraved and printed for numerous South American issuers during this period, and the Banco del Perú series was among several contracted in New York during the early-to-mid 1870s.