4000 Reales de Vellón Banco de España

The 4000 Reales de Vellón was one of the highest denominations issued by the Banco de España in the mid-nineteenth century — a note designed for institutional and commercial transactions rather than anything approaching daily use. Spain's currency system at this date was still denominated in reales, a unit that would be swept away by the 1868 peseta reform, making these notes obsolete within about a decade of issue.

The Banco de España itself had only received its definitive charter in 1856, the same year as this emission, following the consolidation of the Banco de Isabel II and the Banco de San Fernando. Survival rate for this denomination is predictably low.