The Banco Nacional de Bolivia was chartered in 1871 and operated out of Antofagasta — then Bolivian territory — at a moment when the nitrate and silver mining boom was drawing significant foreign capital into the region. The bank's notes, printed by the American Bank Note Company in New York, were designed to serve that commercial traffic rather than general retail circulation.
Antofagasta would pass to Chile following the War of the Pacific (1879–1884), rendering this issuer obsolete within a decade of its founding. Notes from the pre-war period are correspondingly scarce.
The Banco Nacional de Bolivia was chartered in 1871 and operated out of Antofagasta — then Bolivian territory — at a moment when the nitrate and silver mining boom was drawing significant foreign capital into the region. The bank's notes, printed by the American Bank Note Company in New York, were designed to serve that commercial traffic rather than general retail circulation.
Antofagasta would pass to Chile following the War of the Pacific (1879–1884), rendering this issuer obsolete within a decade of its founding. Notes from the pre-war period are correspondingly scarce.