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2 1/2 Centavos Asunción Tramway Light & Power Co.
| Issuer | Asunción Tramway Light & Power Co. |
|---|---|
| Year | 1913-1915 |
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| Currency | Peso (1856-1944) |
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| Obverse description | Dark-green letterpress print on light-green paper, with a decorative guilloche border enclosing the entire face. The issuer's name appears in bold capital letters across the top, above a three-line promise-to-pay inscription in cursive script. The denomination 'DOS Y MEDIO CENTAVOS' is set in large bold type at centre, with 'MONEDA NACIONAL CURSO LEGAL' below; numeral counters '2 1/2' appear in white on dark guilloche panels at left and right. A serial number and series letter are printed in red at lower left, with a manuscript signature at lower right, and the printer's imprint in small type at the very foot of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Uniform brown letterpress print on plain paper, entirely filled with an elaborate geometric and foliate pattern. A meander (Greek key) frieze runs along the top and bottom borders, flanked at each corner by circular rosette vignettes enclosed in square panels. Two large fan-scroll volutes occupy the left and right centre fields, while a dense acanthus-leaf composition frames the large white numeral '2 1/2' at the centre of the design. |
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| Comments |
The Asunción Tramway Light & Power Co. was a British-registered utility concession operating in Paraguay's capital, and this fractional token note was issued to address the chronic shortage of small-denomination coinage that plagued Paraguay in the early twentieth century. Private transport and utility companies across Latin America routinely filled this gap with their own scrip, redeemable for services — in this case, almost certainly for tram fares.
The printer, Compañía Sudamericana de Billetes de Banco, was the Buenos Aires subsidiary of the American Bank Note Company and handled much of the region's commercial and official currency work before closing in 1918.