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5 Pesos Plata
| Issuer | Banco Atlántida |
|---|---|
| Year | 1913-1919 |
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| Composition | Cotton paper |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of a seated allegorical female figure, viewed from behind and gazing toward a distant lighthouse, surrounded by an anchor and maritime elements within an oval guilloche frame. The bank title EL BANCO ATLANTIDA arcs across the top, with the promise text PAGARÁ AL PORTADOR EN MONEDA EFECTIVA below; the denomination numeral 5 appears in large intaglio figures at left and right, with CINCO PESOS and the place and date LA CEIBA, HONDURAS printed at the lower centre. Signature lines for El Presidente, El Gerente, and El Ministro de Hacienda are present at the bottom, with the imprint of the American Bank Note Co., New York. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in blue-green and centres on the Coat of Arms of Honduras within an ornate oval cartouche, flanked by large mirror-image numeral 5 vignettes rendered in elaborate lathe-work guilloche. The bank name BANCO ATLANTIDA appears in a scroll banner above the arms, with the denomination legend CINCO PESOS PLATA lettered in bold serif type along the lower margin. The imprint AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY, NEW YORK is present at the bottom, and the entire design is framed by intricate scalloped guilloche borders. |
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| Comments |
Banco Atlántida was founded in Tegucigalpa in 1913 as Honduras's first privately chartered commercial bank, and this note belongs to its inaugural series — among the earliest privately issued paper currency the country had seen in any practical quantity. The American Bank Note Company supplied virtually all of Latin America's serious private banking paper at this period, and the quality of engraving reflects that monopoly position.
The "Plata" designation is the telling detail. Honduras was still denominating obligations in silver pesos rather than the lempira, which wouldn't replace the peso until 1931. A note promising silver payment carried real legal weight in a monetary environment where the distinction between silver and paper obligations was not academic.