Description and research notes
A specimen of the Banco de Zaragoza 200 reales vellón dated 14 May 1857, Serie B, serial number 07958, classified as Pick S452s. This is the standard specimen format as preserved for printer archives and official reference, fully complete in its intended banknote form. The Madrid-school engraving includes the Spanish coat of arms, detailed acanthus ornaments, and formal promise text characteristic of Zaragoza's mid-19th century private-bank issues.
The Banco de Zaragoza was established in 1857 under reforms enabling provincial banks to issue their own notes. Its emission system followed a fixed structure: Serie A = 100 reales, Serie B = 200 reales, Serie C = 500 reales, Serie D = 1000 reales, Serie E = 2000 reales, Serie F = 4000 reales. When the bank was absorbed by the Banco de España in 1874, nearly all circulation notes were redeemed and destroyed. Surviving specimens, especially from the 200 reales Serie B emission, are extremely scarce and remain among the primary surviving documentation for this short-lived issuer.
Although the broader Pick S452 census includes notes from several different issuers, PMG does not list any specimens from Banco de Zaragoza. As a result, this piece stands entirely outside population data and should be viewed as an independent rarity. Its survival indicates an extremely small original specimen distribution, likely limited to printer or bank archival holdings.
Serial 07958 places this specimen within the same Serie B emission as the full-sheet specimen No. 07887 held in the collection. The combination of a full production sheet specimen and a standard-format specimen from the same emission is exceptionally rare in Spanish provincial material. Because no issued 200 reales vellón notes from Zaragoza are confirmed to survive, specimen examples represent the primary documentation of this type.
This note qualifies as R7+, reflecting its extreme scarcity and its importance as one of the few known specimens of a denomination and issuer virtually absent from public and institutional collections.