3 Pesos Red stamp 'TERCERA SÉRIE'

Paraguay's National Treasury began producing its own notes domestically after the outbreak of the War of the Triple Alliance in 1864 cut the country off from foreign printers entirely. The "TERCERA SÉRIE" overprint in red was applied to distinguish this issue from earlier series — a practical sorting measure as the Treasury pushed successive emissions to fund a war that would ultimately kill the majority of Paraguay's male population and reduce the country to ruin by 1870.

State-printed under siege conditions, the paper and execution are predictably rough. The watermark is one of the few concessions to security on a note produced by a government with almost no material resources left.