50 Pesos

The Banco Español de la Habana was the sole bank of issue in colonial Cuba throughout this period, operating under a Spanish royal charter while relying almost entirely on American printing technology. The American Bank Note Company produced the bulk of Cuban colonial currency during these decades — a commercially pragmatic arrangement that sat awkwardly alongside Spain's political insistence on sovereignty over the island.

The late 1860s and 1870s were anything but stable in Cuba. The Ten Years' War (1868–1878) created severe fiscal pressure on colonial finances, and notes of this series circulated under conditions of open rebellion in the eastern provinces. That historical friction is probably why surviving examples from the earlier part of this date range are harder to locate than the nominal print run would suggest.