Catalog
50 Centavos
| Issuer | Banco Mauá y Ca., Rosario |
|---|---|
| Year | 1864 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Plain typeset note with an ornate border of repeated text reading 'CENTAVOS DE PESO FUERTE' along all four margins. The large denomination numeral '50' appears in an oval guilloche vignette at center, flanked by matching '50' numerals in the upper corners. The bank title 'BANCO MAUÁ & Cª' is set in bold letterpress at top, with the promise text 'Vale por 50 CENTAVOS DE PESO FUERTE' and the payment clause 'Pagaremos á la vista UN PESO FUERTE al portador de dos de estos billetes' printed below. The place and date 'Rosario de Santa Fe, 21 de Noviembre de 1864' appear at bottom left, with manuscript signatures at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO MAUÁ & Cª Vale por 50 CENTAVOS DE PESO FUERTE Pagaremos á la vista UN PESO FUERTE al portador de dos de estos billetes Rosario de Santa Fe 21 de Noviembre de 1864 CENTAVOS DE PESO FUERTE |
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| Comments |
Banco Mauá y Ca. was the Argentine arm of Irineu Evangelista de Sousa's financial network — the Barão de Mauá, the Brazilian entrepreneur who built one of the most ambitious private banking operations in nineteenth-century South America. The Rosario branch issued its own notes independently of the Buenos Aires operation, a distinction that matters for collectors since the two series are catalogued separately and are not interchangeable.
The PS prefix places this firmly in the Specialized catalog as a private bank issue from a period when provincial Argentina had no unified currency — local banco notes circulated by trust, not by legal mandate. Mauá's network collapsed in 1875 after a combination of the global financial crisis and overextension across Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina.