5 Pesos El Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa

Sinaloa's 1915 emission came out of the Constitutional forces' need to finance military operations during the Mexican Revolution, when individual states and regional commanders were issuing their own currency at a pace that made federal oversight essentially meaningless. Britton & Rey, a San Francisco lithography firm better known for maps and certificates, handled a surprising volume of Mexican revolutionary paper during this period — their California address made them accessible to northern Mexican factions with cross-border commercial ties.

The note circulated in a region where competing emissions from Sonora, Chihuahua, and Durango were simultaneously in play, creating chronic valuation confusion among merchants and soldiers alike.