4 Soles

Banco de Lima was one of several private commercial banks that emerged in Peru during the guano-boom years, when the government's export revenues were substantial enough to underwrite a wave of new financial institutions. The 1870s, however, were already showing early signs of the fiscal strain that would culminate in the War of the Pacific and the near-total collapse of the Peruvian banking system by the early 1880s — most of these private bank notes became worthless within a decade of issue.

The 4-soles denomination is an odd choice, rarely encountered in South American private banking series of this period. Compañía Nacional de Billetes de Banco operated out of New York as a specialist printer for Latin American clients, though it left few traces in the historical record compared to contemporaries like the American Bank Note Company.