Catalog
4 Soles
| Issuer | Banco del Perú |
|---|---|
| Year | 1871 |
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| Currency | Sol (1863-1985) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse presents a central vignette of a female portrait in an oval frame surrounded by an elaborate sunburst guilloche at left, with a second smaller oval portrait vignette at the lower right. The bank title 'BANCO DEL PERÚ' is printed across the upper centre in bold letterpress, with the denomination '4' repeated in the upper right corner cartouche and lower left. Manuscript date, serial number, and two handwritten signatures appear across the lower portion of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO DEL PERÚ Vale Cuatro Soles 4 |
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| Comments |
The Banco del Perú was one of several private commercial banks licensed under Peru's 1863 banking law, which permitted note issuance against specie reserves. By 1871, Lima's banking sector was expanding rapidly on the back of guano export revenues — a boom that would prove short-lived. The 4 Soles denomination is an odd unit, rarely chosen by Latin American issuers of the period, suggesting it was calibrated to a specific transactional need rather than a round-number convention.
The Compañía Continental de Billetes de Banco was a New York security printer active in supplying Latin American banks during the 1860s and 1870s, competing directly with the better-known American Bank Note Company. Few of their Latin American commissions survive in quantity.