Catalog
5 Pesos
| Issuer | El Banco Español Filipino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1896 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Peso (1857-1967) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CINCO PS.FS 5 EL BANCO ESPAÑOL FILIPINO PAGARÁ AL PORTADOR CINCO PESOS FUERTE MANILA CINCO (Translation: Five The Spanish-Filipino Bank Will pay the bearer five hard pesos) |
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| Reverse lettering | CINCO 5 (Translation: Five) |
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| Comments |
The Banco Español Filipino was the only bank of issue in the Philippines under Spanish colonial administration, holding that monopoly from its founding in 1851 until the American period. This 1896 note was printed in the final years before the Spanish-American War ended Spanish rule entirely — by 1898 the bank's status and the currency's legal basis had both been thrown into serious uncertainty.
Barclay & Fry, a London security printing firm that worked extensively on colonial currency across the British and Spanish empires, produced the series. The irony of a Spanish colonial institution contracting a London printer was entirely unremarkable at the time.