Catalog
5 Pesos Banco Español Filipino
| Issuer | Banco Español Filipino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1904 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress print on plain paper with red serial numbers. The bank's heraldic arms appear as a central vignette at upper centre, flanked by red handstamp impressions at left and right margins. The text body carries the promise-to-pay legend along with the issuing branch designations, all within a ruled border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CINCO PS. 5 EL BANCO ESPAÑOL FILIPINO PAGARÁ AL PORTADOR CINCO PESOS MANILA ILOILO CINCO (Translation: Five. The Spanish-Filipino Bank. Will pay the bearer five pesos.) |
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| Comments |
The Banco Español Filipino — later renamed the Bank of the Philippine Islands in 1912 — was the first bank chartered in the Philippines, established by royal decree in 1851. By 1904 it still held the exclusive note-issuing privilege on the islands, though American administration had been in place since 1901 following the Spanish-American War. Notes of this period occupy an awkward transitional moment: Spanish in name and institutional tradition, operating under an American colonial government increasingly intent on rationalizing Philippine currency.
Barclay & Fry's involvement as printer places this firmly in the London-produced series. The firm handled a number of colonial and semi-colonial bank commissions during this period before being absorbed into larger printing operations.