Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Pesos Philippine National Bank
| Issuer | Philippine National Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | P#49 |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BANK CIRCULATING NOTE THE PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BANK WILL PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND FIFTY PESOS IN LAWFUL CURRENCY OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS ISSUED UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF ACT NUMBER 2612 OF THE PHILIPPINE LEGISLATURE AS AMENDED BY ACT 2747 SERIES OF 1920 LAWTON FIFTY PESOS |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in red, the reverse is dominated by an ornate central oval vignette enclosing the arms of the Philippine Islands — a heraldic eagle surmounting a shield — surrounded by a fine guilloche border. Elaborate acanthus-leaf scrollwork fills the four corners, with the denomination numeral '50' repeated at each corner. The bank title arches across the top and the legend 'CIRCULATING NOTE / FIFTY PESOS' appears at the base. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Philippine National Bank was established in 1916 partly to break Manila's dependence on foreign commercial banks, which had long controlled agricultural credit on the islands. These circulating notes, printed under contract by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, gave the PNB a visible presence in daily commerce that its balance sheet alone could not provide.
The 1920 date places this note squarely in the volatile post-WWI commodity slump that hit Philippine sugar and hemp exports hard — the same downturn that pushed the PNB itself into insolvency by 1921, requiring government intervention to prevent collapse.