5 Pesos 1/2 Condor - provisional issue

Chile's 1925 monetary reform — the creation of the Banco Central and the introduction of the peso-based system — moved faster than the printing infrastructure could support. This provisional issue bridged the gap, using existing stock overprinted or adapted for the new authority before purpose-designed notes were ready. The Imprenta Fiscal, the government's own press in Santiago, handled production, which kept the work domestic but also meant output was constrained by a facility never built for high-volume currency work.

The dual denomination — 5 Pesos and ½ Condor simultaneously valid — reflects the transitional exchange rate fixed at 10 pesos to the condor during the reform period.