Catalog
5 Pesos
| Issuer | Banco de Bogotá |
|---|---|
| Year | 1880 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | EL BANCO DE BOGOTÁ Pagará al portador á la vista Cinco Pesos BOGOTÁ de 18 SERIE DIRECTOR GERENTE DIRECTOR SEGUNDO DIRECTOR TERCERO Compañia Columbiana de Billetes de Banco WASHINGTON D.C. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in blue, the reverse presents an ornate lathe-work guilloche border enclosing the central design. A large shield-shaped medallion at centre carries the bold numeral '5', flanked by elaborate foliate and vine arabesques; the bank title 'EL BANCO DE BOGOTÁ' runs in large letters across the upper field, with 'CINCO' and 'PESOS' set to either side of the central medallion at mid-field. The printer's imprint of the Colombian Bank Note Co., Washington D.C., appears in small text at the lower margin, with a cashier's signature line at lower centre. |
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| Comments |
The Colombian Bank Note Company was a short-lived Washington operation that printed for several South American issuers during the 1870s and 1880s, competing directly with the better-known American Bank Note Company. Banco de Bogotá, chartered in 1870 as Colombia's first private commercial bank, relied on foreign printers throughout this period — domestic security printing infrastructure simply didn't exist in any meaningful form.
The 1880 issue predates the catastrophic Thousand Days War by two decades, placing it in a relatively stable window for Colombian private banking, before the wave of forced liquidations and currency chaos that followed.