Catalog
4 Reales Plata Boliviana
| Issuer | Otero y Cía., Córdoba |
|---|---|
| Year | 1867 |
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| Reference(s) | P#S1987 |
| Obverse description | Single-sided note printed in black on pale paper with a decorative guilloche border and large numeral '4' cornerpieces. A small vignette of a figure appears at the left, while the issuer's name 'OTERO Y Cª' is set in bold display lettering across the upper portion beneath an ornamental rosette. The central text panel bears the denomination in letterpress, the date '1° de Junio de 1867', a handwritten promise-to-pay legend, and a manuscript signature, with 'CORDOBA' in a banner at the foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | OTERO Y Cª Serie A VALE POR 4 REALES 1° de Junio de 1867 Pagaremos á la vista UN PESO plata boliviana al portador de DOS de estos vales Por Otero y Cª CORDOBA |
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| Comments |
Otero y Cía. was a private commercial house in Córdoba, not a bank in any chartered sense, yet it issued paper currency backed by Bolivian silver reales — plata boliviana — which circulated widely in the interior provinces where hard coin was chronically scarce. The 1860s saw numerous such quasi-banking operations across Argentina's interior, filling a vacuum that the nascent national banking framework had not yet reached.
The denomination itself is telling: Bolivia's silver coinage remained the dominant transactional currency in Córdoba and the northwest long after Argentine federal monetary policy nominally took precedence.