Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Bolivianos Banco Mercantil
| Issuer | Banco Mercantil |
|---|---|
| Year | 1906 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 50 ORURO, BOLIVIA, JULIO 1ᐤ. DE 1906. EL BANCO MERCANTIL PAGARÁ Á LA VISTA AL PORTADOR CINCUENTA BOLIVIANOS EN MONEDA CORRIENTE POR EL CONTADOR DELEGADO DEL GOBIERNO P.P. DIRECTOR JERENTE American Bank Note Co. New York. (Translation: Oruro, Bolivia, July 1st. 1906. The Merchant Bank will pay the bearer on sight fifty bolivianos, in current currency. For the accountant. Government delegate. Managing director.) |
| Reverse description | Brown intaglio print. Central vignette presents an aerial view of the Plaza 10 de Febrero (February 10 Square) in Oruro, Bolivia, with a mountain range in the background. Bank title and denomination numerals frame the design. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Banco Mercantil was one of several Bolivian commercial banks authorized to issue private banknotes under the country's decentralized monetary regime of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. That system collapsed in 1911 when the Bolivian government moved to consolidate note-issuing authority, effectively ending private bank circulation. Notes from this 1906 series had a short operational window.
ABNC's involvement was near-universal among South American private banks of this period — the New York firm held contracts across the continent simultaneously, which occasionally led to near-identical border and lathe-work appearing on competing national issues.