500 Pesos

El Banco Español de la Habana was the first chartered bank in Cuba, established by royal decree in 1855 with Spanish metropolitan backing. These high-denomination notes circulated during a brief window when the colony actually had a functioning central bank — the institution collapsed under mismanagement and was liquidated in 1867, barely a decade after opening.

At 500 pesos, this was not a note that passed through ordinary hands. Colonial Cuba's plantation economy ran on credit instruments and merchant ledgers at this level; retail use was essentially impossible.

Surviving examples are rare. The bank's failure meant redemption and destruction were chaotic, but the short circulation life also means many notes were never worn — they were simply voided when the institution folded.