50 Pesos

The Banco de Barranquilla was one of several private Colombian banks authorized to issue currency under the 1880s free banking legislation, operating at a time when the national government had effectively abdicated control over note issuance to regional commercial banks. The Thousand Days War, which began in October 1899, severely disrupted banking operations across Colombia — this 1900 date places the note squarely in the early, chaotic phase of that conflict.

Local printing in Barranquilla, rather than contracting a European security printer, was common for the coastal banks but produced notes considerably more vulnerable to counterfeiting. Survivor populations are small, partly from wartime disruption and partly from the 1923 monetary reforms that consolidated issuance under the Banco de la República.