Description and research notes
A genuinely rare issued 2000 reales vellón banknote of the Banco de Zaragoza, dated Zaragoza, 14 May 1857, Serie E, serial number 00286. Catalogued as Pick S455, this denomination represents the upper tier of the bank’s circulating emissions and belongs to a class of notes that were produced in limited quantities and almost entirely redeemed and destroyed.
The Banco de Zaragoza was one of the provincial banks authorised to issue paper currency during Spain’s short-lived liberal banking period following the 1856 banking reforms. Within this framework, Zaragoza structured its issues by denomination using alphabetical series, culminating in Serie E for 2000 reales vellón and Serie F for 4000 reales vellón. These higher denominations were intended primarily for institutional and wholesale transactions rather than everyday circulation, which accounts for their extreme attrition.
Issued examples of Serie E are seldom encountered today. Survival rates are best established through direct observation of extant notes rather than catalogue estimates. Only a very small number of fully executed, circulation-authorised 2000 reales vellón notes are documented, and serial number 00286 represents one of these scarce survivors.
This note is fully signed by all required officers, including the Comisario Regio, Director, Interventor, and Cajero. The prominent circular cancellation punch at center reflects standard Zaragoza redemption practice for high-denomination notes once withdrawn from circulation. Despite evident circulation wear, the engraved detail remains bold, preserving the distinctive mid-nineteenth-century Madrid-school engraving style used for Zaragoza’s emissions.
True issued examples of Pick S455 are rarely represented in institutional holdings or auction archives. Based on confirmed surviving specimens rather than conjecture, this note qualifies as R8, placing it among the most elusive surviving artifacts of Spain’s provincial banking era.