Banco del Pichincha was a Quito-based regional bank operating under Ecuador's free banking period, when multiple private institutions held the legal right to issue their own notes. That system collapsed in 1927 when the Banco Central del Ecuador was established and private issue was abolished — making all surviving commercial bank notes from this era obsolete by decree rather than by gradual retirement.
ABNC produced the plates in New York, as they did for most Ecuadorian private bank paper of the period. The S-prefix in the Pick reference signals a specialized listing, meaning this circulated as a genuine provincial instrument rather than a government-backed national issue.
Banco del Pichincha was a Quito-based regional bank operating under Ecuador's free banking period, when multiple private institutions held the legal right to issue their own notes. That system collapsed in 1927 when the Banco Central del Ecuador was established and private issue was abolished — making all surviving commercial bank notes from this era obsolete by decree rather than by gradual retirement.
ABNC produced the plates in New York, as they did for most Ecuadorian private bank paper of the period. The S-prefix in the Pick reference signals a specialized listing, meaning this circulated as a genuine provincial instrument rather than a government-backed national issue.