Catalog
40 Centavos
| Issuer | Banco Nacional del Perú |
|---|---|
| Year | 1873 |
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| Reference(s) | P#305 |
| Obverse description | The obverse is laid out with a central oval vignette enclosing a reclining female allegorical figure in three-quarter view, set against an ornate lathe-work background with guilloche borders. The denomination '40' appears in large numerals at the upper left and right corners within decorative cartouches, with 'CENTAVOS' inscribed below each. The bank title 'EL BANCO NACIONAL DEL PERÚ' arches across the upper portion in bold letterpress, below which the promise-to-pay text and serial numbers flanking 'CUARENTA CENTAVOS' are rendered in a combination of engraved and typeset script, with the date 'Lima Enero 1º de 1873' printed at the foot of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | EL BANCO NACIONAL DEL PERÚ Pagará á la vista al portador CUARENTA CENTAVOS en moneda corriente Lima Enero 1º de 1873 40 CENTAVOS |
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| Comments |
The Banco Nacional del Perú was established in 1872 with backing from a consortium of Lima merchants, making it one of the earliest joint-stock banks in the country permitted to issue circulating notes. This 40 centavos denomination belongs to the bank's founding series — fractional values like this were a direct response to the chronic shortage of small silver coin in everyday commerce.
American Bank Note Company handled the printing, as was common for South American issuers seeking engraved quality they could not yet produce domestically. The bank itself collapsed in 1877, well before Peru's catastrophic War of the Pacific, which means surviving notes from this series predate the financial destruction that followed.