5 Pesos Decrees of 3.9.1811 and 29.6.1813

The Tesorería General de Puerto Rico issued this note under emergency wartime authority, the dual decree dates reflecting a two-stage legal process: the 1811 decree authorizing paper currency for the island, and the 1813 decree expanding or confirming its terms. Puerto Rico's paper money experiment of this period was driven by a chronic shortage of coin, worsened by the disruptions of the Napoleonic Wars and the resulting collapse of regular Spanish treasury shipments from the Peninsula.

These notes circulated in a colonial economy deeply resistant to paper, and redemption was uncertain enough that public confidence remained fragile throughout the issue's lifespan. Pick 4 is among the earliest Puerto Rican paper issues, predating any formal banking infrastructure on the island by several decades.