Catalog
5 Soles
| Issuer | Banco de Londres Mexico y Sud America |
|---|---|
| Year | 1870 |
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| Currency | Sol (1863-1985) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by a central intaglio vignette of two allegorical female figures flanking a crowned shield, rendered in fine line engraving against a light guilloche underprint. Two large red numeral '5' roundels anchor the left and right margins, while a portrait vignette of a young woman appears at the lower right and a vignette of children at the lower left. The bank title 'BANCO DE LONDRES MEXICO Y SUD AMERICA' arches across the upper portion, with the denomination inscription 'CINCO SOLES' printed in bold red letterpress across the centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO DE LONDRES MEXICO Y SUD AMERICA CINCO SOLES LIMA Pagará al portador á la vista 5 No. |
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| Comments |
The Banco de Londres México y Sud América was the first chartered bank in Peru, established in 1863 as a branch of a British-owned institution operating across Latin America. Its early note issues, including this 1870 series, were produced by the American Bank Note Company in New York — the dominant supplier of security printing to South American banks throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century.
The bank's Peruvian operations collapsed during the War of the Pacific (1879–1884), when Chilean occupation forces disrupted commerce and the Peruvian financial system fractured beyond recovery. Notes from the pre-war period survived in very limited numbers.