Description and research notes
A large-format transitional photographic proof pair by the American Bank Note Company, representing a mid-generation redesign between the engraved 1896 series and the simplified inter-war issues of the 1930s. Printed in a brown-olive tone on card-mounted photographic paper, this undated 100 Pesos pair bridges stylistic eras in Uruguayan currency design.
The obverse presents José Gervasio Artigas in profile within an ornate laurel wreath frame, accompanied by a gaucho-on-horseback vignette symbolizing national independence and agrarian strength. The reverse shows the equestrian monument of Artigas on Montevideo’s Plaza Independencia, an early 20th-century patriotic motif that reinforced the republic’s civic identity. The rich tonal gradation and heavy photographic stock suggest ABNC’s early 20th-century production methods.
A faint pencil annotation along the lower margin reads “Plate No. 23 specimen,” confirming this as an internal reference proof produced directly from the steel master dies before plate hardening. These photographs functioned as engraver’s approval and archival documentation, never intended for public release. Today, such transitional ABNC proofs are among the rarest surviving evidence of Uruguay’s evolving national imagery between the ornate classicism of the 1890s and the clean monumental style of the 1930s.