5 Pesos Tesoro Nacional

Paraguay in 1862 was operating under Francisco Solano López, who had assumed power the previous year following the death of his father Carlos Antonio. The country remained almost entirely isolated from external trade and foreign capital, and its currency was printed domestically — a direct consequence of that deliberate insularity. The Tesoro Nacional notes of this period are among the few examples of South American paper money produced entirely within the issuing country at this date, without recourse to European security printers.

The watermark is the primary security measure, modest by contemporary standards but notable given the local production constraints.