Catalog
½ Libra Peruana de Oro
| Issuer | Junta de Vigilancia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
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| Reference(s) | P#21 |
| Obverse description | Horizontal format note with a central vignette of a standing indigenous male figure holding a staff, set within a circular frame. The upper portion bears the large title CHEQUE CIRCULAR in bold letterpress, flanked by SERIE D at upper right and a serial number field at upper left, with MEDIA LIBRA repeated in guilloche underprint along the borders. The lower panel carries the denomination MEDIA LIBRA PERUANA DE ORO in bold text, with the emission text referencing the participating banks and the governing legislation (Leyes N° 1968 y 1902) inscribed in two columns flanking the central vignette. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CHEQUE CIRCULAR MEDIA LIBRA PERUANA DE ORO SERIE D EMITIDO POR LOS BANCOS DEL PERÚ Y LONDRES ITALIANO INTER NACIONAL DEL PERÚ POPULAR DEL PERÚ Y ALEMÁN TRANSATLÁNTICO Y LA CAJA DE AHORROS DE LIMA CON ARREGLO A LAS LEYES N° 1968 Y 1902 OCTUBRE DE 1914 PAGADERA CONFORME A LAS MISMAS LEYES MEDIA LIBRA |
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| Comments |
The Junta de Vigilancia was a temporary supervisory body created in Peru in 1914 specifically to manage the suspension of gold convertibility — a direct consequence of the financial panic that swept Latin American economies at the outbreak of the First World War. Notes issued under its authority were emergency instruments, not regular banking currency, filling the vacuum left when gold coinage disappeared from circulation almost overnight as hoarding took hold.
The fractional half-libra denomination is the telling detail: it signals just how acute small-change shortages had become. P#21 is among the scarcer pieces from this brief issue.