½ Sol

The Banco del Valle de Chicama was a private regional bank operating out of the sugar-producing north coast of Peru, centered on the Chicama Valley — one of the most productive agricultural zones in nineteenth-century South America. Private bank note issuance in Peru during the early 1870s was briefly legal and competitive, but the War of the Pacific and subsequent financial chaos effectively ended most of these institutions within a decade.

The American Bank Note Company contract for such a small regional issuer is worth noting. ABNC handled an enormous volume of Latin American commissions during this period, and half-sol fractional notes were not their typical prestige work — but the engraving quality was consistent regardless of denomination.