5 Pesos

The Banco Nacional de la República de Colombia had a troubled institutional life — Congress voted to liquidate it in 1894 following accusations of unchecked note issuance and politically motivated lending, but the government continued printing and circulating notes under its name for years afterward while the legal dissolution dragged on. This 1899 date places the note squarely in that limbo period, during which the bank existed more on paper than in practice.

Printing by the Litografía Nacional de Bogotá rather than a European security printer reflects both economic constraint and the disruption that preceded the Thousand Days War, which broke out in October 1900. The handstamp seal substituting for more sophisticated security was entirely typical of official Colombian paper money in this period — and did little to deter counterfeiting.