4 1/2 Centavos Fuertes

The Banco del Litoral was one of several provincial Argentine banks operating under the loose banking framework of the 1870s, before the Banco Nacional and eventually the Caja de Conversión consolidated monetary authority. A denomination of 4½ centavos fuertes is genuinely peculiar — fractional centavo notes were issued to address chronic small-coin shortages, but half-centavo fractions are rare enough in any Latin American series to warrant attention.

The "fuertes" designation distinguished these notes from the depreciated papel moneda circulating elsewhere in the country at the time.