500 Pesos

Banco del Perú was one of several private commercial banks chartered in Lima during the guano boom years, when Peru's export revenues created enough liquidity to support a nascent domestic banking sector. The 500 Pesos denomination was substantial — not everyday circulation money, but instrument for commercial settlement and interbank transfer. American Bank Note Company's work for Peruvian issuers in this period was prolific; the Lima banks relied almost entirely on New York engravers rather than developing local printing capacity.

Peru abandoned the peso in 1863 in favor of the sol, yet notes denominated in pesos continued to circulate under transitional arrangements well into the late 1860s — placing this issue directly in that awkward monetary interregnum.