Catalog
5 Pesos
| Issuer | Banco de Comercio |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Pesos |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in dark green and black on white paper, with a large guilloche underprint in the centre bearing the bold numeral '5' in intaglio. At upper centre, the bank title 'EL BANCO DE COMERCIO' is set within an ornate letterpress heading, below which the legend 'PAGARÁ AL PORTADOR EN MONEDA EFECTIVA' appears. To the right, an intaglio vignette presents an equestrian statue on a high pedestal, while the lower margin carries the place and date of issue 'TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS' and '16 DE FEBRERO DE 1915', with three manuscript signature lines for El Presidente, La Gerente, and El Ministro de Hacienda. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in dark purple-brown, centred on the Honduran national coat of arms rendered in intaglio within an oval frame, flanked on each side by two large ornamental cross-shaped rosette vignettes bearing the numeral '5'. The denomination 'CINCO PESOS' is inscribed along the lower margin, and the imprint 'AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY' appears at the very bottom. A circular handstamp cancel is visible at upper right. |
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| Comments |
Banco de Comercio was one of several Mexican private commercial banks still attempting to function during the most chaotic years of the Revolution. By 1915, the Constitutionalist government under Carranza was moving aggressively to nationalize banking authority and suppress competing paper currency — notes from institutions like Banco de Comercio were being demonetized or refused outright in large parts of the country, depending on which faction controlled the territory.
ABNC's involvement here is unsurprising; the company held long-standing contracts across Latin America and maintained plate stock that allowed relatively fast turnaround on emergency or low-volume issues. Whether this printing was ever fully distributed into circulation given the political conditions of mid-1915 is genuinely uncertain.