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500 Pesos
| Issuer | Banco Nacional |
|---|---|
| Year | 1883 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 Pesos |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is framed by an intricate guilloche border with corner medallions bearing the denomination 500. At upper centre, the heading REPUBLICA ARGENTINA / BUENOS AIRES, ENERO 1° DE 1883 appears above the bold bank title EL BANCO NACIONAL. To the left, a classical allegorical vignette shows a seated female figure at an easel, personifying the Arts, while to the right an intaglio portrait of a uniformed military officer — generally identified as General Manuel Belgrano — occupies the upper right field. A central oval underprint carries the text PAGARÁ AL PORTADOR Y Á LA VISTA / QUINIENTOS PESOS / MONEDA NACIONAL ORO, SEGUN LEY DE 5 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 1881, with signature lines for Inspector de Gobierno and Directorio below. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is enclosed by a dense guilloche border with repeating 500 numerals on all sides. Two large lathe-work rosette medallions bearing bold 500 numerals flank a central intaglio vignette of a historical scene, generally interpreted as a colonial encounter between a European figure and indigenous people on a shoreline. The bank title EL BANCO NACIONAL runs across the top, and BUENOS AIRES appears in the lower centre panel against a pink underprint ground. |
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| Comments |
El Banco Nacional was one of several Colombian private banks of issue operating under the 1871 banking law, which permitted chartered banks to circulate their own notes. The high denomination — 500 Pesos — suggests this was principally a commercial instrument, used for large mercantile settlements rather than daily retail trade. Notes of this value rarely left banking hands.
ABNC's Colombian work in this period drew on a shared pool of vignette dies, meaning plate elements on this note may reappear on contemporaneous issues for entirely different Latin American banks. Worth checking against other PS-series ABNC Colombian printings of the early 1880s.