Catalog
½ Real Plata Boliviana
| Issuer | Banco Argentino, Córdoba |
|---|---|
| Year | 187_ |
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| Reference(s) | P#S1471 |
| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in black on white paper with an ornate guilloche border incorporating four corner cartouches each bearing the fraction '1/2' and the legend 'MEDIO REAL'. At centre, a circular vignette presents a bull's head in profile. The bank title 'BANCO ARGENTINO' and 'CORDOBA' appear in bold letterpress above the vignette, with the denomination 'MEDIO REAL' flanking it in large capitals. A manuscript date line reading 'Registrado 187_' appears above, and the promise-to-pay text at the foot reads 'Pagará a la vista ó su equivalente UN PESO plata boliv. en moneda legal al portador de DIEZ Y SEIS de estos billetes. POR EL BANCO'. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse presents a mirror-image impression of the obverse design, visible as a strong letterpress show-through on the plain paper, with the text and guilloche border appearing in reverse orientation. The back itself carries no additional printed design elements, the overall appearance being that of a uniface note with text readable from the front only. |
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| Comments |
The Banco Argentino operated out of Córdoba during the brief window of provincial free banking in Argentina before federal banking legislation effectively ended such arrangements. The denomination — half a Real Plata Boliviana — reflects the monetary confusion of the interior provinces in the early 1870s, where Bolivian silver coinage still circulated widely and local banks denominated small notes accordingly rather than using the peso fuertes framework preferred in Buenos Aires.
The trailing underscore in the date indicates the year was left partially blank at printing, to be completed on issue — common practice, but it means dating individual examples requires reading the manuscript completion rather than the typeset field.