500 Pesos

Giesecke & Devrient's Leipzig facility was one of the most technically advanced security printers in the world by the 1890s, supplying banknotes to governments across Latin America, Africa, and Asia simultaneously. Uruguay's choice of G&D for this series was deliberate — the firm's intaglio work was considered a reliable deterrent against the counterfeiting that had plagued earlier Uruguayan issues.

The Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay itself had only been established in 1896, making this note among the earliest issues from an institution that replaced a fragmented system of private and state banks. The 500 Peso denomination would have represented an enormous sum in everyday Uruguayan commerce at the time — essentially a wholesale instrument rather than anything a wage earner would handle.