50 Pesos Fuertes Banco Boliviano

The Banco Boliviano was one of Bolivia's earliest private commercial banks, chartered in the 1860s during a period when the country was attempting to build a functioning credit infrastructure around its silver mining revenues. Contracting the National Bank Note Company in New York was the predictable choice for a South American institution at this moment — ABNC's predecessor firm and its rivals had already cornered much of the Latin American banknote market by mid-century.

The denomination "Pesos Fuertes" — hard pesos — was a deliberate signal to a public that had reason to distrust paper, distinguishing these notes from debased or fractional currency. Whether the bank ever achieved meaningful circulation is another question; Bolivian private banking in this decade was fragile, and most of these institutions folded or were absorbed before their notes wore out.