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40 Centavos Fuertes
| Issuer | Banco Nacional |
|---|---|
| Year | 1873 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Brown-tinted note with a central guilloche medallion bearing the numeral '40', flanked by the Argentine coat of arms and framed by two classically rendered allegorical female figures seated at left and right — one holding a lute, the other attended by a spinning wheel — executed in fine intaglio style. The issuer legend 'EL BANCO NACIONAL' is set in bold letterpress across the centre, with the place and date 'BUENOS AYRES, AGOSTO 1.º DE 1873' running along the upper margin. A printed promise-to-pay text in Spanish occupies the lower register, above two manuscript signatures and a series designation. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BUENOS AYRES, AGOSTO 1.º DE 1873 40 EL BANCO NACIONAL Pagará al portador y á la vista CUARENTA CENTAVOS FUERTES en las monedas determinadas por la Ley Nacional SERIE |
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| Comments |
The Banco Nacional was one of several private banks operating in Argentina under the 1872 banking law, each with the right to issue their own notes — a situation that created a fragmented, often chaotic currency supply before the Banco Nacional de la República Argentina consolidated the system in 1891. The 40 centavos denomination is an odd one, practically speaking: small-value fractional notes of this type typically emerged where coin shortages made change difficult, and Argentina's chronic shortage of specie in the early 1870s made them a commercial necessity rather than a curiosity.
The American Bank Note Company printed the full Banco Nacional series from its New York facilities. PS#646 sits in one of the thinner survival categories for the issue — fractional notes were used hard and discarded.