50 Pesos

Giesecke & Devrient had secured a strong foothold in South American bank note contracts by the 1890s, and this Uruguayan issue is among the more substantial early commissions from their Leipzig works. The Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay — itself founded only in 1896, the same year of this note's issue — was a state institution created specifically to break the grip of private banks, particularly the Banco Nacional, which had collapsed spectacularly in 1890 during a broader regional financial crisis.

The timing matters: this 50 Pesos was among the first notes issued by a newly established public bank still working to establish credibility with a skeptical commercial class.