5 Soles

This note was issued amid the financial strain preceding the War of the Pacific, which broke out in April 1879 when Chile declared war on Peru and Bolivia. The Peruvian government had already been issuing paper currency to cover fiscal shortfalls, and notes of this series circulated through an economy that would soon collapse under wartime occupation — Chilean forces entered Lima in January 1881, effectively ending normal monetary functions for years.

The American Bank Note Company held long-standing contracts with several South American governments through this period, often producing runs that outlasted the political regimes that ordered them.