5 Bolivianos Banco Potosi

Banco Potosí was one of several Bolivian departmental banks authorized under the 1871 banking law, each empowered to issue its own currency — a decentralized arrangement that lasted until the Banco de la Nación Boliviana absorbed most private issue privileges in the early twentieth century. The American Bank Note Company was the prestige choice for South American issuers of this period, and Potosí's selection of ABNC reflects the bank's need to signal financial credibility in a city whose silver mining economy was already in steep structural decline by the 1880s.

PS191 is among the scarcer survivors from this issuer.