The Union Bank

One of seven banks whose notes were reused in 1899:the red circular seal “BANCO NACIONAL” stamped over the director's signature, and the inscription printed on the reverse, document the same episode of war that affected this copy: in 1899, at the outbreak of the Thousand Days War, the government authorized the reuse of out-of-circulation banknotes deposited in the coffers of private banks in Bogotá —among them, expressly, The Bank of the Union— resetting them as provisional banknotes of the National Bank.²

A banking house under a commercial name:Unlike other Bogota banks of the time, Banco de la Unión operated under the corporate name of its founders, “Palau, Corrales & Compañía”, a common model among the banking and commercial houses of Bogotá in 1883, where private credit and import trade used to go hand in hand.

Historical and Issue Context

A banking firm in 1883 Bogotá:The Banco de la Unión issued these banknotes in Bogotá during the era of free banking, under the company name of its founders, Palau, Corrales & Compañía. It was one of the numerous private banking houses — in Bogotá and other cities — that, without a central bank, issued their own paper money backed by their own commercial credit.¹

The text of the stamp, word for word:The inscription printed on the reverse of this specimen of Diez Pesos is clearly read: “This bill provisionally circulates as a bill of the National Bank, in accordance with decree number 517 of October 30, 1899. Bogotá, October 30, 1899”, signed by the Minister of the Treasury. The same decree appears, although partially faded due to the wear of the paper, on the reverse of the Five Peso bill.²

Financing the war without a new printing press:The use of old re-stamped banknotes from private Bogotá banks allowed the government to multiply the monetary mass in circulation during the Thousand Day War, without depending exclusively on new editions of banknotes from the National Bank.²

Key Details Visible on Banknotes

• Vignettes of the Cinco Pesos:two seated female allegorical figures flank the banknote, and a winged cherub occupies the central oval —a classically inspired composition, with the heading “Palau, Corrales & Comp.” above the name “The Union Bank”.
• Vignettes of the Diez Pesos:profile portrait of a headdress-wearing woman at left, and a rural scene at center with a horse pulling a plow beside a farmer and dog —agricultural iconography typical of 19th-century Colombian banknotes.
• Text of the obligation:“Will pay the bearer on demand” ... “in current legal currency”, with the heading “Bogotá, January 1º, 1883” and signature lines for “The Managing Director” and “The President of the Board”.
• Overstamp seal:red circular seal bearing the inscription “BANCO NACIONAL”, stamped over the director's signature on both notes —a mark of the state's 1899 intervention on already-printed private paper.
• Numbering:“Serie A, N.° 1591” on the Five Peso banknote and “Serie B, N.° 1493” on the Ten Peso banknote, printed on both upper corners of the obverse.
• Reverse of the Cinco Pesos:guilloché in blue-green ink with large figures “5” on both sides, a central oval with handwritten signatures and the legend “Members of the Board of Issuance” on the lower edge.
• Reverse of the Diez Pesos:Guilloché in red ink with large figures “10” on both sides, several superimposed handwritten signatures and, on the lower edge, the legend “Members of the Issuance Board”.
• Imprint:“American Bank Note Co., New York”, printed in small print on the lower margin of the front of both banknotes.

Additional Context

These specimens bring together, in two complementary pieces, two different moments in Colombian monetary history: the original issuance of a private banking house in Bogotá in the era of free banking (1883), and its forced reuse sixteen years later as an instrument of state financing during the Thousand Days' War (1899) —the same documentary bridge that connects other Bogotá banks of the time, such as El Banco Internacional, with the monetary centralization that It would culminate, in 1923, with the creation of the Bank of the Republic.