Catalog
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| Issuer | Tesoro de la Isla de Cuba |
|---|---|
| Year | 1891 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | A central intaglio vignette to the left shows two allegorical female figures, one standing with wings and holding a trumpet, the other seated, accompanied by an eagle, rendered in a classical engraving style. To the right, the Spanish royal arms appear within an ornate frame, while the denomination numeral '5' is set in the upper right corner against a guilloche underprint. The text 'EL TESORO DE LA ISLA DE CUBA' arches across the upper portion with 'CINCO PESOS' below, and signature lines for El Gobernador General, El Director Gral. de Hacienda, El Interventor Gral., and the Registrado line for El Gobernador del Banco Español de la Isla de Cuba are printed in the lower field. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | TESORO DE LA ISLA DE CUBA CINCO PESOS 5 |
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| Comments |
The Tesoro de la Isla de Cuba issued this note under Spanish colonial authority, at a moment when Cuba's monetary arrangements were increasingly strained by both debt financing and the separatist pressures that would culminate in the Ten Years' War's aftermath and the renewed uprising of 1895. The treasury notes of this series were obligations of the Spanish colonial government rather than instruments of a local central bank — a distinction that mattered enormously to holders when political conditions deteriorated.
Bradbury Wilkinson's engraving quality on Cuban colonial issues of this period is generally high, consistent with their contemporaneous work for other Spanish imperial territories. Pick 39 is the 1891-dated iteration within a longer-running series, and surviving examples vary considerably in condition due to active tropical circulation.