Description and research notes
This specimen note represents the one hundred pesos denomination of the Banco de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay issued under the monetary law of 2 January 1939 and printed by Thomas De La Rue and Company in London. It belongs specifically to Serie D as printed on the face of the note, reflecting the actual production series rather than any generalized series grouping used on third-party grading labels.
Within the 1939 emission structure, the one hundred pesos denomination functioned as a substantial working value within Uruguay’s monetary hierarchy. It served institutional settlement, treasury movement, and upper-tier commercial exchange while remaining below the five hundred and one thousand pesos denominations. Specimen examples of this type document the structured administrative controls governing high-value reference material rather than circulating currency.
This example bears a bold diagonal black SPECIMEN overprint across the obverse and reverse, accompanied by two black oval printer control stamps reading “SPECIMEN – DE LA RUE & CO LTD – NO VALUE.” These stamps appear in the upper left and lower right corners on the face and are repeated on the reverse. Unlike perforated-cancel variants, this example relies entirely on ink-based invalidation and contains no mechanical punch perforations.
The serial format is all-zero, consistent with specimen handling, and the lower margin reads “SPECIMEN No. 2,” identifying its position within the controlled specimen numbering sequence prepared for Serie D. The coexistence of identical series, pick number, and specimen number across different overprint colors demonstrates that multiple control formats were applied within the same denomination and series, reflecting printer protocol rather than denomination hierarchy.
The obverse composition integrates the national arms within a dense guilloche security framework, with the denomination CIEN PESOS prominently set in an architectural cartouche. The right side features allegorical imagery and symbolic references tied to national law and constitutional authority. The reverse presents a detailed civic and historical scene in red-brown intaglio, depicting public assembly before a monumental architectural backdrop. The design balances crowd density, architectural massing, and the reserved watermark oval at right.
Printed by Thomas De La Rue and Company, this black-overprint Serie D specimen represents a distinct control state within the 1939 Uruguay issue. Its ink-based cancellation protocol differentiates it from both perforated examples and red-overprint variants, documenting the layered and parallel specimen-handling practices employed for Uruguay’s interwar currency production.