8 Reales

The Tesorería y Aduana Unidas de Valdivia was one of several provincial Chilean fiscal offices empowered to issue emergency currency during the chronic coin shortage of the 1830s and 1840s. These notes were not the product of a central banking authority — Chile had none at the time — but rather locally administered scrip backed by customs and treasury receipts. Valdivia, isolated in the south and still rebuilding decades after the wars of independence, had particular difficulty maintaining metallic circulation.

The S-prefix in the Pick reference signals a specialty listing — this is regional, not nationally issued paper, and survivor numbers are correspondingly low.