Catalog
5 Pesos
| Issuer | Estado Soberano del Cauca |
|---|---|
| Year | 1882 |
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| Printer | Lit. de B. Páredes, Bogotá |
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| Obverse description | Horizontal note with the arms of Colombia in a circular vignette at left, and a large guilloche numeral '5' at right. Centre text reads 'EL ESTADO SOBERANO DEL CAUCA' with the legend 'VALE AL PORTADOR / CLASE 2a' across the top and serial number and denomination 'POR $5' in the middle register. Date and place 'Popayan, 15 de abril de 1882' appear in manuscript. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | VALE AL PORTADOR CLASE 2a POR $5 EL ESTADO SOBERANO DEL CAUCA ESTADOS UNIDOS DE COLOMBIA ESTADO SOBERANO DEL CAUCA CINCO PESOS Popayan |
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| Comments |
The Estado Soberano del Cauca was one of nine sovereign states under Colombia's federal Rionegro Constitution of 1863 — a political arrangement that gave each state extraordinary autonomy, including the right to issue its own paper currency. That experiment in radical federalism collapsed in 1886 when Rafael Núñez imposed the centralist Regeneración and abolished the sovereign states entirely, making emissions from this period both short-lived and institutionally extinct by definition.
Lithographed by Bernardo Páredes in Bogotá, not in Cauca itself — a reminder that the Cauca Valley lacked the infrastructure to produce its own notes. Surviving examples are genuinely scarce; the issuing authority ceased to exist within four years of this note's production.