Catalog
5 Colones
| Issuer | Banco Agrícola Comercial |
|---|---|
| Year | 1922 |
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| Printer | American Bank Note Company |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by a central vignette of a grand neoclassical building, likely a government or commercial structure in San Salvador, framed by elaborate guilloche scrollwork and numerals '5' in oval panels at left and right. The bank title 'BANCO AGRÍCOLA COMERCIAL' is inscribed across the top, with the denomination 'CINCO COLONES' in bold letterpress at the bottom centre, accompanied by the clause 'EN MONEDA ACUÑADA DE ORO' and the place and date 'San Salvador, 10 de Marzo de 1922'. Three manuscript signatures appear along the lower portion of the note. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in green and carries a central oval portrait vignette of a woman, flanked by two smaller circular vignettes, all set within a dense guilloche border pattern. A circular overprint bearing the bank name 'BANCO AGRÍCOLA COMERCIAL' surrounds the central portrait, with the text 'ORA SON TOMAE N' visible across the upper field. The denomination numeral '5' appears at centre right, and the printer's imprint 'AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY' is present at the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
Banco Agrícola Comercial was one of several private Salvadoran banks authorized to issue currency before the government's 1934 nationalization of note-issuing rights — a move that wiped out all competing circulation paper almost overnight. Notes from this bank survive in small numbers partly because the 1934 consolidation was abrupt, but also because El Salvador's rural economy in the 1920s meant heavy use and high attrition for low-denomination paper.
ABNC's involvement was essentially standard for Central American private banking issues of the period; the New York plates were expensive but guaranteed international credibility with foreign creditors.