Catalog
4 Reales
| Issuer | Tesoreria y Aduana Unidas de Valdivia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1840-1844 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The face bears two official dry stamps applied at the top: one of the Intendencia de Valdivia and one of the Tesoreria y Aduana Unidas de Valdivia, accompanied by manuscript authorizing signatures and a hand-applied "MM" control stamp. The note is a typeset letterpress issue on plain paper with handwritten dating and denomination inscriptions. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 1840 Vale Cuatro Reales Cuatro (Translation: 1840 Worth Four Reales Four) |
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| Comments |
The Tesorería y Aduana Unidas de Valdivia was not a bank — it was a combined treasury and customs house operating in one of Chile's more isolated southern ports. Notes issued under this authority circulated in a regional economy largely cut off from Santiago, where obtaining hard coin was a persistent logistical problem. The 4 reales denomination addressed day-to-day transactional needs that silver simply couldn't meet reliably in the 1840s south.
Surviving examples are rare. Provincial Chilean fiscal paper from this period was printed in small runs, used hard, and rarely preserved intentionally.