200 Pesos Fuertes

The Banco de la Província de Buenos Aires occupied an unusual position in Argentine monetary affairs — it functioned as the de facto central bank of Buenos Aires province for much of the nineteenth century, issuing its own currency independently of federal authority in a country where that tension between provincial and national financial control was never fully resolved until well into the 1880s. The American Bank Note Company's involvement reflects the standard practice of the period: South American institutions consistently turned to New York engravers when they wanted notes that the public would find difficult to counterfeit.

PS#521 is a high-denomination issue for its date. At 200 pesos fuertes in 1869, this note would have been an instrument of commerce, not everyday pocket change.