Catalog
5 Pesos Plata
| Issuer | Banco Atlántida |
|---|---|
| Year | 1913-1919 |
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| Currency | Peso (1862-1931) |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in blue-green and centres on the Coat of Arms of Honduras within an ornate oval cartouche, flanked by large mirror-image numeral 5 vignettes rendered in elaborate lathe-work guilloche. The bank name BANCO ATLANTIDA appears in a scroll banner above the arms, with the denomination legend CINCO PESOS PLATA lettered in bold serif type along the lower margin. The imprint AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY, NEW YORK is present at the bottom, and the entire design is framed by intricate scalloped guilloche borders. |
| Reverse lettering | BANCO ATLANTIDA 5 CINCO PESOS PLATA AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY, NEW YORK |
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| Comments |
Banco Atlántida was founded in Tegucigalpa in 1913 as Honduras's first privately chartered commercial bank, and this note belongs to its inaugural series — among the earliest privately issued paper currency the country had seen in any practical quantity. The American Bank Note Company supplied virtually all of Latin America's serious private banking paper at this period, and the quality of engraving reflects that monopoly position.
The "Plata" designation is the telling detail. Honduras was still denominating obligations in silver pesos rather than the lempira, which wouldn't replace the peso until 1931. A note promising silver payment carried real legal weight in a monetary environment where the distinction between silver and paper obligations was not academic.