Catalog
50 Pesos
| Issuer | Banco Español Filipino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1883 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | The bank's circular arms vignette is centred at top, flanked by two oval denomination cartouches reading "Ps.Fs.50" at upper left and right. An elaborate guilloche border frames the entire note. The date "1° Enero 1883" appears twice in the lower text panel alongside the place of issue "Manila", with three manuscript signatures below identifying the Director, Tenedor de Libros, and Cajero. The note is uniface. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Uniface note; reverse is blank. |
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| Comments |
The Banco Español Filipino was the only bank of issue in the Philippines throughout the Spanish colonial period, holding an exclusive privilege granted by royal decree. By 1883 the bank was already navigating serious financial strain — a combination of agricultural loan defaults and exposure to the volatile sugar and tobacco trades had been eroding its position for years. These pressures would eventually force its reorganization into the Banco Español Filipino de Isabel II's successor entity under new statutes before the end of the century.
Locally printed in Manila rather than sent to a metropolitan press, which was unusual for colonial-era Philippine currency of this denomination.