Catalog
5 Pesos
| Issuer | Banco Internacional de Guatemala |
|---|---|
| Year | 1885 |
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| Printer | American Bank Note Company |
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| Obverse description | Black intaglio print on white paper with a central vignette of the Banco Internacional de Guatemala seal — a circular device enclosing crossed flags (including the United States flag) and sailing ships, surrounded by the bank's name. The bank title 'El Banco Internacional de Guatemala' arches across the top in bold letterpress, with the denomination numeral '5' in a solid black panel at upper right. The promise to pay text 'pagará al portador en moneda efectiva' and the denomination 'CINCO PESOS' appear in the centre field, with the place and date line 'GUATEMALA, ___ de 18__' below. Three manuscript signatures appear at the bottom, with the printer's imprint along the lower border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | EL BANCO INTERNACIONAL DE GUATEMALA PAGARÁ AL PORTADOR EN MONEDA EFECTIVA CINCO PESOS GUATEMALA DIRECTOR INTERINO GERENTE |
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| Comments |
The Banco Internacional de Guatemala was one of several private commercial banks authorized to issue currency under Guatemala's 1874 banking law, which deliberately fragmented note issuance among competing institutions rather than establishing a single central bank. This arrangement lasted until the Guatemalan government consolidated and eventually nationalized note issue in the early twentieth century. Private bank notes from this period are consequently short-lived issues — the window between a bank's founding and the end of its issuing privilege was often less than two decades.
The American Bank Note Company imprint places this squarely in the era when virtually every Latin American private bank of any ambition contracted with the major New York security printers. ABNC plates were often shared or adapted across multiple clients, worth checking against related Guatemalan issues of the same period.