Catalog
5 Pesos Banco Mercantil de Veracruz
| Issuer | Banco Mercantil de Veracruz |
|---|---|
| Year | 1898-1910 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Peso (1863-1992) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Blue intaglio print on pink underprint. Central vignette of a seated allegorical female figure surrounded by symbols of agriculture, industry, mining, and commerce; the issuer name arches below the vignette with the face value numeral repeated at all four corners and in the side panels, and the denomination in words at lower center. Five-digit serial numbers overprinted in red at upper left and right, three manuscript signatures with title designations — Interventor del Gobierno, Gerente, and Consejero — occupying the lower zone, with the issuing city and date at top flanking the vignette and the printer imprint at the foot of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 5 Veracruz, Marzo 15 de 1898 Nº 11646 El BANCO MERCANTIL de VERACRUZ PAGARÁ AL PORTADOR CINCO PESOS EN LA CIUDAD DE VERACRUZ Á LA VISTA, EN EFECTIVO INTERVENTOR DEL GOBIERNO GERENTE CONSEJERO AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY, NEW YORK (Translation: Veracruz, March 15th., 1898 The Merchant Bank of Veracruz will pay to bearer five Pesos at Veracruz city, at sight, in cash. Government Auditor, Manager, Counselor.) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Banco Mercantil de Veracruz operated under the 1897 Ley General de Instituciones de Crédito, which granted concessions to state-chartered banks but kept the Banco Nacional de México and the Banco de Londres y México as the only institutions with nationwide circulation rights. Notes from Veracruz-chartered banks like this one were theoretically restricted in where they could be spent — a practical limitation that shaped how much paper actually moved beyond the port city.
The American Bank Note Company produced the plates, as it did for most Mexican state banks of the period. ABNC work for Mexican concession banks was generally consistent in quality; the more useful distinction is that the Banco Mercantil de Veracruz was among the smaller regional issuers, and its notes were rendered obsolete when Huerta's government nationalized and liquidated the state banking system after 1913.