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400 Escudos
| Issuer | Banco de España |
|---|---|
| Year | 1869 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 400 Escudos |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Blue letterpress print with red serial numbers at upper left and right. The central text panel carries the main obligation inscription, framed by an elaborate border with cherub vignettes and female allegorical figures at the corners and sides, each accompanied by symbolic objects and fruit motifs. The denomination "400 ESCUDOS" appears in large numerals at the upper portion of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 400 ESCUDOS El Banco de España pagará al portador CUATROCIENTOS escudos en efectivo. Madrid 1 de Noviembre de 1869. El Gobernador Por la Intervencion Por la Caja (Translation: 400 Escudos The Bank of Spain will pay the bearer Four Hundred Escudos in cash Madrid, November 1, 1869. The Governor For the Intervention For the Cash) |
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| Comments |
The 400 Escudos denomination places this note squarely within Spain's brief experiment with the escudo system, introduced in 1864 as part of a decimal currency reform under Isabel II and abandoned in 1871 when the peseta replaced it entirely. The Glorious Revolution of 1868 had deposed Isabel II just months before this note's issue date, leaving the Banco de España operating under a provisional government with uncertain monetary authority.
Printed in-house in Madrid rather than contracted to a foreign specialist printer — unusual for high-value Spanish notes of the period, which had often relied on external engravers. The escudo series was short-lived enough that relatively few denominations entered heavy circulation before the system was scrapped.