25 Soles

The Banco de Londres México y Sud América was the first bank formally authorized to issue paper currency in Peru, receiving its concession in 1863. This note predates Peru's catastrophic War of the Pacific by nearly a decade — a conflict that would effectively destroy the country's banking system and render most Peruvian private bank issues worthless by the early 1880s.

ABNC's work for South American clients in this period was among the finest intaglio printing available anywhere, and Peruvian collectors have long regarded the surviving Londres issues as the benchmark for pre-war private emission quality. Attrition from the war years was severe.