500 Pesos

The Provincia de Buenos Aires operated its own note-issuing bank — the Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Aires — independently of the national government for decades, a product of the fierce federalist-unitarian conflicts that had defined Argentine politics since independence. By 1880, the province was still resisting full financial subordination to Buenos Aires city, which only became the federal capital that same year after a brief armed confrontation between provincial and national forces.

The American Bank Note Company in New York handled the bulk of Latin American security printing at this period, and the quality of their intaglio work on this series is well above what domestic printers in Argentina could produce. High-denomination notes like this 500 Pesos rarely entered general trade; at that face value, they functioned almost entirely in large commercial settlements.