Catalog
50 Pesos
| Issuer | El Banco Español Filipino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1896 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The note is framed within an intricate guilloche border with ornate corner medallions each bearing the denomination numeral 50, above which the bank title EL BANCO ESPAÑOL FILIPINO is set in large bold letterpress across the upper field, flanked by abbreviated denomination designations and centred on the royal arms vignette. The lower half carries the promise-to-pay obligation and date line in cursive script, with two manuscript signature lines below. The overall layout follows the formal intaglio-printed style typical of late nineteenth-century colonial Philippine issues produced by Barclay & Fry. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CINCUENTA EL BANCO ESPAÑOL FILIPINO Ps. Fs 50 Ps. Fs 50 PAGARÁ AL PORTADOR CINCUENTA PESOS FUERTES MANILA (Translation: Fifty — The Spanish-Filipino Bank will pay the bearer fifty hard pesos — Manila) |
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| Comments |
El Banco Español Filipino was the first bank established in the Philippines, chartered by royal decree in 1851 and granted the exclusive right to issue paper currency in the archipelago. By 1896 — the year the Katipunan launched its armed revolt against Spanish colonial rule — public confidence in the bank was already under strain. Notes of this denomination would have circulated among a merchant class acutely aware that Spanish authority in the islands was collapsing.
Barclay & Fry of London handled the printing, as they did for much of the bank's note series throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century. The bank was reorganized and renamed Banco de las Islas Filipinas following the American takeover in 1898, making any note issued under the Español Filipino title a product of the final years of Spanish Pacific commerce.