Collection

Nineteenth-century Argentina built its paper-money system in step with nation-building: provincial banks financed regional economies, private institutions issued notes under local charters, and foreign engravers supplied the security printing. Before national standardization, circulation mixed Reales, Pesos Fuertes, and later gold-denominated Peso Oro, reflecting a monetary landscape in transition. The 1881 monetary reform moved the country toward a unified peso-based framework, but the earlier decades remain pivotal for understanding printer networks, allegory, and anti-counterfeit technique on Argentine paper.

Two great engraving houses dominated this era: Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. (London) and the American Bank Note Company (New York). Their styles—BWC’s bold allegories and ABNC’s tight guilloche and portraiture—shaped designs for provincial banks from San Juan to Buenos Aires. Specimens and printer’s proofs survive as the cleanest record of design intent, often the only way to study plates that issued lightly—or not at all. Together, these pieces show how Argentina expressed federal identity, commerce, and modernization through paper money long before a fully centralized issue took hold. Use the filters above to pivot by type or year; the selection below samples this broader story rather than repeating card-level descriptions.