1 Peso Fuerte

Banco J. Benites é Hijo was a private commercial bank operating in Paraguay, and this 1868 note was issued during an extraordinarily precarious moment — the War of the Triple Alliance was still grinding through its final phase, having already destroyed a significant portion of Paraguay's adult male population and gutted its economy. That a private bank was issuing peso fuerte notes at all during this period speaks to the near-total collapse of state monetary infrastructure.

The American Bank Note Company contract is the detail worth noting. ABNC printed for dozens of Latin American private banks in this period, and the plates were often prepared in advance of — or regardless of — actual issuing conditions on the ground.