Catalog
5 Pesos
| Issuer | Banco del Ecuador |
|---|---|
| Year | 1884-1887 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Peso (1884-1898) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO DEL ECUADOR CINCO PESOS VALE CINCO PESOS en moneda corriente Guayaquil, 18 GERENTES CINCO 5 CINCO American Bank Note Co. N.Y. |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in a single brown tone and is dominated by three large lathe-work rosettes arranged horizontally, each composed of intricate engine-turned guilloche patterns. At centre, a large bold numeral "5" is superimposed over an elaborate foliate ornament. The bank name is inscribed in an arched legend at the top, with the denomination repeated in two words along the lower border, and the corner numerals "5" completing the design. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Banco del Ecuador was a private commercial bank operating out of Guayaquil, not a central institution — Ecuador had no central bank until 1927. In the 1880s, several competing private banks held the right to issue currency simultaneously, creating a patchwork monetary system that the government struggled to regulate and that foreign creditors viewed with considerable skepticism.
The American Bank Note Company contract for this series placed it among the better-secured private emissions of the period. ABNC work from this era is generally consistent in quality, though the Banco del Ecuador issues are among the less commonly encountered in collections today, likely reflecting the bank's eventual absorption into the turmoil surrounding Ecuador's 1890s banking crises.