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200 Reales de Vellón Banco de Bilbao
| Issuer | Banco de Bilbao |
|---|---|
| Year | 1857 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Central allegorical vignette of a seated female figure accompanied by a caduceus, shield, anchor, and cornucopia, with a sailing ship in the background; lateral vignettes at each side show two putti engaged in activities representative of Bilbao's commerce and industry. The composition is executed in fine intaglio work typical of mid-19th-century Spanish provincial bank issues. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Reverse is unprinted, left plain with no design elements, text, or ornamental work, consistent with standard practice for Spanish provincial bank issues of the mid-19th century. |
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| Comments |
The Banco de Bilbao was chartered in 1857 under Spain's Banking Law of that same year, which authorized provincial banks to issue notes redeemable locally — not nationally. This 200 Reales de Vellón note is effectively a first-issue piece, struck in the bank's inaugural year before the consolidation pressures of the 1860s forced most provincial banks to curtail or abandon note issue entirely.
Reales de vellón as a unit were already anachronistic by 1857, soon displaced by the escudo in 1864 and then the peseta in 1868. Notes denominated in the old system had short practical lives regardless of condition.