Chile's fiscal treasury issues of this period were a direct consequence of the country's chronic inability to maintain metallic convertibility. The Banco Central de Chile did not exist until 1925, and in the interim, the Finance Ministry issued notes through its own printing office — an arrangement that made monetary policy inseparable from government budgetary pressures, with predictable inflationary results.
The Imprenta Fiscal lacked the intaglio capacity of Waterlow or the American Bank Note Company, whose work dominated Chilean issues of the preceding decades. Production quality reflects that constraint.
Chile's fiscal treasury issues of this period were a direct consequence of the country's chronic inability to maintain metallic convertibility. The Banco Central de Chile did not exist until 1925, and in the interim, the Finance Ministry issued notes through its own printing office — an arrangement that made monetary policy inseparable from government budgetary pressures, with predictable inflationary results.
The Imprenta Fiscal lacked the intaglio capacity of Waterlow or the American Bank Note Company, whose work dominated Chilean issues of the preceding decades. Production quality reflects that constraint.