500 Pesos

El Banco Español de la Habana was the dominant colonial banking institution in Cuba, operating under a royal charter from Madrid. The 500 Peso denomination was the highest value in this 1867–68 series, placing it firmly in the realm of commercial and government transactions — retail circulation for a note this size was essentially nil in 1860s Havana.

American Bank Note Company printed the series from its New York facilities, a common arrangement for Latin American and Caribbean colonial issuers who lacked local security printing infrastructure. ABNC's involvement does not indicate any U.S. financial authority over the notes — the contractual relationship was purely technical.

Surviving high-denomination examples from this issue are genuinely rare; the bank's operations were severely disrupted by the outbreak of the Ten Years' War in October 1868.