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500 Pesos
| Issuer | República de Chile |
|---|---|
| Year | 1912-1917 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | P#27 |
| Obverse description | Black on green and yellow underprint, with a portrait vignette of Jorge Montt Álvarez at left and a vignette of the Palacio de La Moneda at right. The design incorporates elaborate guilloche patterning in the underprint, with handstamp varieties noted across examples. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in red, the reverse is composed entirely of intricate guilloche work arranged in three large circular medallions: the two outer medallions each bear the denomination numeral "500" at center, while the central medallion carries the legend "REPÚBLICA DE CHILE" set within elaborate lathe-work rosettes. The printer's imprint "American Bank Note Company, New York" appears in small text along the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
The República de Chile issued this high-denomination note during a period of acute monetary instability driven by the country's inconvertibility crisis — Chile had suspended gold convertibility in 1878 and never fully restored it, leaving paper circulation chronically overextended into the early twentieth century. A 500 Peso note in this environment was a serious instrument, not pocket money; it circulated among merchants, exporters, and institutions conducting the kind of business the nitrate trade generated.
ABNC produced the series in New York under contract, as they did for most of Chile's formal banknote output in this period. The engraved intaglio work is characteristic of their best commercial quality for South American government clients.