400 Escudos

The 400 escudos denomination places this note in the brief window between the 1868 Glorious Revolution — which overthrew Isabella II — and Spain's adoption of the peseta system in 1874. The escudo had itself only replaced the real in 1864, making this currency already a second-generation reform instrument by the time it was printed. Spain went through three monetary unit changes in a single decade.

The Banco de España did not yet hold a monopoly on note issuance in 1870; regional banks still competed for circulation. Notes of this period are rare in any condition, partly because public confidence in paper remained fragile throughout the First Spanish Republic years that followed.