5 Pesos

Banco Occidental was a regional Colombian bank headquartered in Cali, operating under the free banking legislation that allowed private institutions to issue their own currency during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The long date range on this series — spanning nearly a quarter century — reflects how stubbornly provincial banks clung to their existing plate stocks rather than commissioning new designs, particularly as the political and monetary climate grew increasingly unstable after the Thousand Days War ended in 1902.

ABNC printed for dozens of Latin American private banks during this period, and the Banco Occidental relationship was one of the smaller contracts in their Colombian portfolio. Colombia's national government ultimately absorbed private bank note issuance rights in 1909 under the Banco Central, though some institutions continued redeeming old paper well past that date — which accounts for the series running to 1915.