Catalog
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| Issuer | Banco Occidental |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | EL BANCO OCCIDENTAL DOS COLONES PAGARÁ A LA VISTA AL PORTADOR DOS COLONES EN MONEDA ACUÑADA DE ORO SAN SALVADOR 1° de Mayo de 1920 SERIE A GERENTE PRESIDENTE CAJERO AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY |
| Reverse description | Monochrome brown intaglio reverse with a central portrait medallion of a bearded male figure in profile, surrounded by a circular guilloche frame. The curved inscriptions BANCO at the top and OCCIDENTAL at the bottom of the medallion arc form the bank name, while the denomination numeral 2 appears in stylised cartouches to the left and right within an elaborate geometric and floral guilloche border. The AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY imprint appears in small type at the lower centre. |
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| Comments |
Banco Occidental was one of a handful of Guatemalan private banks authorized to issue currency under the 1874 banking law, operating out of Quetzaltenango — Guatemala's second city and the commercial heart of the western coffee-growing highlands. The American Bank Note Company produced paper for most of these regional Guatemalan issuers, which means surviving notes from different banks often share plate architecture and border treatments, distinguished mainly by the name and overprinted details.
By 1920 the bank's days were numbered. Guatemala's 1926 monetary reform consolidated issue authority under the Banco Central, ending private bank circulation entirely. Notes from this final period of Occidental's operation are scarcer than earlier emissions.