25 Pesos

The Banco Español de la Habana occupied an awkward position: a Spanish colonial institution issuing currency on an island increasingly consumed by separatist war. The Ten Years' War began in 1868, and notes circulating through this period did so against a backdrop of insurgency, capital flight, and a colonial administration struggling to maintain financial credibility in a territory it was visibly losing its grip on.

ABNC's involvement was typical for Latin American issuers of the period who wanted engraved security printing beyond what Spanish printers could reliably produce. The New York origin of the plates is worth noting given that U.S. commercial interests in Cuba were already significant by the 1870s.