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4 Pesos Tesoro Nacional - Black type
| Issuer | Tesoro Nacional del Paraguay |
|---|---|
| Year | 1865-1870 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Peso (1856-1944) |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress print in black on plain paper. The national coat of arms appears as a central vignette at upper center, flanked to the upper left by a pastoral vignette of oxen with a plow. The note text is typeset in a period letterpress style, with the denomination stated twice as '4 PESOS' and a full payment clause in Spanish. Signatures, when present, appear in manuscript. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ASUNCION La ley perseguirá á los falsificadores y sus cómplices. 4 PESOS. 4 PESOS. REPUBLICA DEL PARAGUAY El Tesoro Nacional pagará al portador la cantidad de CUATRO PESOS valor recibido. (Translation: The law will prosecute counterfeiters and their accomplices. 4 Pesos Republic of Paraguay The National Treasury will pay to the bearer the amount of Four Pesos received value.) |
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| Comments |
Paraguay's Tesoro Nacional notes from this period were issued under conditions of near-total economic isolation. The War of the Triple Alliance (1864–1870) severed international trade and made access to foreign printing houses impossible, forcing the government to produce currency domestically in Asunción — a significant constraint that shows in the execution. State-printed wartime notes from landlocked, blockaded nations rarely achieve the engraving standards of European presses, and this series is no exception.
The watermark is an unusual security feature for a domestically produced wartime issue and suggests at least some pre-war paper stock was still being drawn down during printing. By the war's end, Paraguay had lost an estimated 60–70% of its population — the monetary system effectively collapsed with the state that issued these notes.