Description and research notes
A complete photographic proof pair for the 1939 50 Pesos issue produced by the American Bank Note Company for the Departamento de Emisión del Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay. This series marked Uruguay’s first fully standardized pre-war currency design following the centralization of note issue in the mid-1930s.
The obverse presents a helmeted allegorical female figure symbolizing the Republic, engraved in ABNC’s classical yet modernized style with crisp guilloche borders and the national arms below. The reverse depicts a panoramic cavalry-charge allegory of independence beneath radiant banners. Both sides display ABNC’s late-1930s emphasis on symmetry, tonal precision, and restrained ornamentation.
This photographic proof pair was created directly from the master dies to verify engraving depth and composition prior to color trials and steel-plate transfer. It documents the ABNC master engraving later transferred to Thomas De La Rue for full production of the issued 50 Pesos (Pick 38) and the related TDLR specimen (Pick 38bs). The design is identical in layout to both, differing only by its photographic medium and absence of color printing. Mounted on its original card and graded PCGS 63 Choice New, it represents the transition from design approval to full production in Uruguay’s 1939 unified series.