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32 Centavos Fuertes = 2 Chirolas
| Issuer | Banco Nacional |
|---|---|
| Year | 1880 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 32 Centavos Fuertes |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Dark green note with the bank title BANCO NACIONAL in large bold letters across the upper portion, flanked by a classical vignette at left showing figures in a landscape setting and an oval guilloche panel at upper right enclosing the numeral 032. The central text field carries the denomination in large letterpress script TREINTA Y DOS CENTAVOS FUERTES with a parenthetical equivalency clause noting two Chirolas of 16 centavos each, payable to the bearer at sight per Ley Nacional, dated Buenos Aires, 1º de Marzo de 1880. Two manuscript signatures appear at the lower centre above the printed titles El Inspector and El Presidente, with the printer's imprint of Guillermo Kraft along the lower border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in olive-grey tones and is dominated by a large diagonal guilloche band overlying the central panel, with a central oval cartouche bearing the text EL BANCO NACIONAL surrounded by multiple circular medallions with coat-of-arms vignettes arranged symmetrically across the field. The numeral 32 appears in an oval guilloche at the top centre, and the printer's imprint of Guillermo Kraft is visible along the lower margin. A large oval cancellation stamp reading MENDOZA is applied at the upper right. |
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| Comments |
The denomination itself tells the story. "Chirolas" was street slang for the old 16-centavo silver coin, and this note was designed to circulate as two of them — a fractional instrument aimed squarely at working-class transactions during a period when small silver had largely disappeared from everyday commerce. The Banco Nacional issued several of these odd-denomination fractionals in 1880 precisely because metallic small change was chronically absent from Buenos Aires street trade.
Guillermo Kraft was one of the most active commercial printers in Argentina during this period, though not a specialist security printer in the European sense. That the Banco Nacional used a domestic Buenos Aires house rather than a London or Paris firm reflects either expedience or the modest security expectations attached to low-denomination fractional paper.