4 Pesos

The Tesoro de las Islas Filipinas notes of 1877 were colonial treasury obligations, not bank-issued currency — a distinction that mattered legally and practically under the Spanish administration. The Philippines had no central bank of issue at this point; the Banco Español-Filipino held that role for banknotes proper, leaving the treasury to handle these smaller fractional instruments through its own channels.

J. Oppel's Manila lithography shop produced this locally rather than sourcing printing from Spain, which was the exception rather than the rule for colonial paper at this period. Local production kept costs down but introduced inconsistencies in ink saturation and plate wear that make individual examples difficult to grade uniformly.