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50 Pesos
| Issuer | Banco Unión |
|---|---|
| Year | 1899 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed entirely in rose-red, the reverse presents a dense guilloche underprint with the numeral 50 in large format at left and right. A central text panel bears a decree inscription stating the note circulates provisionally as legal tender by order of the Banco Nacional under Decreto Número 512 del 30 de Octubre de 1899, dated Bogotá, Octubre 30 de 1899. Manuscript signatures appear for Rafael Ortiz as Ministro del Tesoro and for the Miembros de la Junta de Emisión, with a central diamond-shaped cancellation punch visible. |
| Reverse lettering | CINCUENTA ESTE BILLETE CIRCULA PROVISIONALMENTE COMO BILLETE DEL BANCO NACIONAL DE ACUERDO CON DECRETO NUMERO 512 DEL 30 DE OCTUBRE DE 1899 BOGOTA, OCTUBRE 30 DE 1899 RAFAEL ORTIZ MINISTRO DEL TESORO MIEMBROS DE LA JUNTA DE EMISIÓN CINCUENTA 50 |
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| Comments |
Banco Unión was a Colombian regional bank operating under the 1880s free banking legislation that briefly allowed private institutions to issue their own currency. By 1899, that system was already under pressure — the Thousand Days War broke out that same year, and the fiscal chaos that followed accelerated the eventual nationalization of note-issuing rights under the Banco de la República in 1923.
ABNC handled a substantial portion of Latin American private bank printing in this period, and their Colombian contracts were numerous enough that the plates for many regional issuers share compositional elements. Whether this specific note circulated before the war's disruptions curtailed Banco Unión's operations is an open question; surviving examples are uncommon.