Description and research notes
Issued for the Banco de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay, this photographic proof pair preserves a complete face-and-reverse design for the one hundred pesos denomination authorized under the law of 4 August 1896. Prepared by Bradbury, Wilkinson and Company Limited, the two monochrome photographic impressions document a fully developed banknote proposal through its portraiture, monetary language, serial arrangement, signature positions, national symbolism, ornamental structure, and intended front-to-reverse visual relationship.
The face proof carries the Series A prefix and paired all-zero serial numbers, presented as A000000 on both sides of the design. This controlled numbering format preserves the position, spacing, and appearance of the intended circulation serials while identifying the photographic image as a master reference for the first alphabetic production series. The complete face also includes the three designated signature positions for the General Manager, President, and Government Delegate.
The upper field names EL BANCO DE LA REPUBLICA ORIENTAL DEL URUGUAY as the issuing authority. At center, the principal obligation states that the bank will pay the bearer one hundred pesos in moneda legal de oro sellado. The reference to the law of 4 August 1896 connects the proposed note directly with the legal foundation of the bank and with the gold-based monetary language established for its paper currency obligations.
The face is constructed around a highly symmetrical arrangement of two oval portrait medallions. At left appears Juan Antonio Lavalleja, the military leader associated with the Thirty-Three Orientals and the struggle that led toward Uruguayan independence. At right appears Manuel Oribe, the second constitutional president of Uruguay and a central political and military figure of the nineteenth century. Their opposing profiles create a formal historical dialogue across the denomination.
Between the portraits, CIEN PESOS is placed over an elaborate radiating security composition built from engraved foliage, scrollwork, geometric ornament, and a large central value device. A broad lower panel repeats 100 PESOS, while denomination numerals occupy the corners. The design combines the structure of a formal financial obligation with the visual authority of a commemorative national document.
The reverse expands the historical program into a panoramic allegorical composition. At left, a seated female figure appears beside agricultural abundance and a cornucopia, representing prosperity, fertility, and the productive wealth of the country. Livestock and a broad rural landscape extend behind the central emblem, associating the denomination with Uruguay's pastoral economy.
The national coat of arms occupies the center beneath the Sun of May. Its four quarters present the scales of justice, the Cerro de Montevideo as a symbol of strength, the horse representing liberty, and the ox representing abundance. Draped flags and ornamental framing elevate the arms into the central statement of sovereignty within the reverse design.
At right appears Fructuoso Rivera, the first constitutional president of Uruguay and a leading military and political figure of the early republic. His inclusion alongside Lavalleja and Oribe creates a three-figure historical program spanning independence, the formation of the state, and the political development of nineteenth-century Uruguay.
The reverse image carries a faint mirrored archival number, 20239 001, within the lower denomination panel. Its reversed appearance is consistent with a reference transferred through the photographic negative or printer archive process. The number forms part of the surviving production identity of the proof and distinguishes this photographic record from an ordinary reproduction of the banknote artwork.
The related Banco de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay one hundred pesos photographic proof pair dated 29 April 1925 carries the closely associated mirrored archival number 20239 00. The consecutive archival references connect the two distinct one hundred pesos designs within the Bradbury, Wilkinson and Company Limited photographic archive, preserving them as adjoining records within the same broader design and documentation sequence.
The two designs represent separate artistic approaches to the same denomination. This 1896 Series A proposal emphasizes paired historical portraits on the face and a broad allegorical national composition on the reverse. The related archival design instead combines Artigas, mounted patriotic imagery, the Monumento a Artigas, and Joaquin Suarez. Their consecutive photographic archive numbers preserve an unusually clear relationship between alternative or sequential design treatments developed for the same issuing institution and denomination.
These photographic proofs were created as archival design documents rather than finished security-printed notes. The photographic process allowed the complete compositions to be reviewed, compared, annotated, and retained before or alongside the preparation of engraved production material. The face and reverse survive as a coordinated pair, preserving the intended relationship between the monetary obligation, portraits, national arms, agricultural imagery, historical figures, and denomination structure.
The underlying designs bear the imprint of Bradbury, Wilkinson and Company Limited of New Malden, Surrey, England. The pair demonstrates the security printer's ability to combine portrait engraving, neoclassical framing, national allegory, monetary text, serial organization, and complex ornamental structure within a high-denomination design prepared for one of Uruguay's principal state banking institutions.
Certified PCGS 63 Choice New for both the face and reverse, this photographic proof pair survives as a complete archival ensemble. Its documentary importance rests in the 1896 legal reference, Series A prefix, paired all-zero serial numbers, three signature positions, portraits of Juan Antonio Lavalleja and Manuel Oribe, reverse portrait of Fructuoso Rivera, national coat of arms, agricultural allegory, and mirrored archive number 20239 001. Together, these elements preserve a major design record from the formative period of the Banco de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay.