25 Pesos

Banco Popular was one of several private Colombian banks granted note-issuing rights under the banking legislation of the 1870s, a period when the federal government deliberately decentralized monetary authority to the individual states and private institutions. The American Bank Note Company in New York handled the bulk of Colombian private bank commissions during this period — the engraving quality is characteristically sharp, a function of ABNC's intaglio process rather than any special commission.

The S-prefix in the Pick reference places this firmly in the Specialized catalogue's private bank section, where Colombian provincial bank paper from this decade clusters heavily. Most issues saw limited regional circulation before the national banking reforms of the 1880s curtailed private emission rights.