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50 Pesos Banco Español de La Habana
| Issuer | Banco Español de La Habana |
|---|---|
| Year | 1857 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Pesos |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse presents a central allegorical vignette at upper centre, likely representing the union of Spain and Cuba flanked by figures of commerce, with the bank's coat of arms incorporated into the design. The issuer's name appears along the top and left edges as well as at centre, with the denomination "$50" in numerals at lower left and lower right flanking the word "HABANA". Handwritten serial number spaces are provided at upper left and upper right, with a manuscript date line below, and four signature lines for the Director, Sub-Director, Counsellor, and Cashier positioned across the lower portion of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Blank, uniface printing with no design or lettering on the reverse. |
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| Comments |
The Banco Español de La Habana was established by royal charter in 1856 as the first bank of issue in Cuba, then still a Spanish colony, and this 50 Pesos note from its inaugural series represents the bank's first year of operation. Bradbury Wilkinson, already well established as a security printer by the mid-1850s, produced the plates in London — a common arrangement for colonial currency where local printing infrastructure was either absent or untrusted.
The uniface production is worth noting: single-sided printing was a cost and logistics decision, not a security oversight, though it left these notes more vulnerable to counterfeiting than the bank's later issues. P#A1 status confirms this as the earliest catalogued type for the institution.