Description and research notes
This exceptionally large-format photographic presentation proof pair for the 1,000 Pesos issue dated 1939 represents the apex of archival proof material prepared for the Departamento de Emisión del Banco de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay. Produced by the American Bank Note Company, this pair documents the finalized design of Uruguay’s highest denomination in its fully resolved form, preserved outside the currency production workflow.
Printed on heavyweight photographic paper and mounted on archival cardstock, this presentation format was intended for institutional reference rather than technical testing. Unlike plate proofs or progressive proofs used during engraving and press preparation, large-format photographic proof pairs of this type served as permanent visual records for issuing authorities, senior officials, and printer archives.
The obverse features José Gervasio Artigas rendered in authoritative profile within a dense and meticulously balanced guilloche framework, accompanied by architectural elements and the national arms below. The enlarged photographic scale allows direct study of engraving geometry, line convergence, and tonal modulation at a level impossible in standard banknote format, reflecting the full maturity of American Bank Note Company craftsmanship at the close of the interwar period.
The reverse depicts a mounted gaucho within an expansive rural landscape, a national motif emphasizing independence, territorial identity, and continuity. The photographic medium preserves the completed engraving without the constraints of circulation paper, margins, or serial conventions, capturing the design exactly as approved for issue.
Dated 1939, this presentation proof pair represents the refined culmination of Uruguay’s interwar monetary design program, following earlier iterations while displaying heightened compositional control and engraving clarity. Preserved as a complete face-and-back ensemble within its original mount and certified by Professional Coin Grading Service Currency as Choice New 63, this piece must be regarded not as a conventional proof, but as a museum-grade archival artifact documenting the final visual authority of the issuing state.