5 Pesos

The Banco de Buenos Ayres was established in 1822 under the influence of Bernardino Rivadavia as part of an ambitious — and ultimately disastrous — program of fiscal modernization. By 1826, the bank had already abandoned convertibility, suspending specie payments the previous year as silver reserves collapsed under the strain of the war against Brazil. Notes issued at this moment circulated in an economy where paper currency had effectively become forced tender, trading at a steep discount against hard coin.

Printed locally rather than by one of the established European security printers, production quality is notably uneven across the series. PS#321 is among the earliest catalogued Argentine paper issues.