5 Colones

Banco Salvadoreño was one of several Salvadoran private issuing banks operating under the country's pluralist banking system before the Banco Central de Reserva de El Salvador was established in 1934 and the right of private note issue was extinguished. The American Bank Note Company handled the printing for most of these institutions — not because of any official mandate, but because ABNC had effectively cornered the Latin American private bank contract market by this period, offering security printing that domestic facilities simply could not match.

The S-prefix Pick reference places this firmly in the specialized territory of Salvadoran private bank issues, a series that sees relatively thin collector coverage compared to the later central bank notes. Earlier Salvador private issues are scarcer than their nominal rarity suggests — many were redeemed and pulped during the 1934 consolidation.