El Banco Hipotecario
Five Pesos · Face and back proofs · Series Y · Bogotá, 1 October 1881
Historical and Issue Context
A mortgage bank with note-issuing powers in Bogotá: El Banco Hipotecario was established on 1 October 1881 in Bogotá. The founding deed is no. 1567 of Bogotá’s Third Notary, dated that same day.1,2 EL TIEMPO summarizes that the deed set a ten-year term, counted from registration, for payment, with the option to lengthen or shorten those terms for members of the shareholders’ assembly.1
A single issue, printed in New York: the bank began as a mortgage institution authorized to issue bearer notes in current money. It made one issue, in 5, 10, 50 and 100 pesos, engraved by American Bank Note Co., New York.2 The Standard Catalog of World Paper Money groups that family as Pick S511–S515.4
A short life and later overprints: the institution’s life was very short; Gómez notes that the bank was apparently official.2 Known issued examples are usually overprinted by Banco Nacional under decree no. 517 of 30 October 1899, which put private-bank notes into provisional circulation during a shortage of paper money.1,3 These ABNC proofs do not carry that overprint.
An archive pair, not a circulating note: PMG catalogs the obverse as FRONT PROOF (Pick S511p1, 1881) and the reverse as BACK PROOF (Pick S511p2, ND 1881), both 61 Uncirculated, with zero serials and series Y. The manuscript date “February 1883” in the face-proof margin is a printer’s production note —a practice also documented on other ABNC proofs of this bank.5
Key Details Visible on the Banknote
- Main text: “EL BANCO HIPOTECARIO pagará al portador á la vista CINCO PESOS” (“will pay the bearer at sight FIVE PESOS”), with the place and date “BOGOTÁ 1.º DE OCTUBRE DE 1881”.
- Left vignette: a seated allegorical woman beside a gear wheel and a sheaf of wheat —industry and agriculture, the iconographic program Gómez summarizes as “allegories of agriculture” on this denomination.2
- Right vignette: a farmer plowing with two horses.
- Proof identifiers: Series Y and “No. 00000” printed in red; separate PMG holders for each face.
- Reverse: monochrome brown printing with symmetrical guilloche, “EL BANCO / HIPOTECARIO” at center and numerals “5” at both sides. Imprint “AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY, NEW YORK”.
- Color: obverse in black on a light-brown ground; reverse in brown.2
Notes
1. EL TIEMPO, “La historia del Banco Hipotecario” (28 January 2020) (opens in a new tab): established 1 October 1881 in Bogotá; ten-year term from registration of the deeds; terms extendable or shortenable for the shareholders’ assembly; context of Banco Nacional overprints.
2. José Arcelio Gómez, Boletín Digital Numismático no. 61 (26 October 2007) (opens in a new tab), “Banco Invitado” section: deed no. 1567, Bogotá Third Notary, 1 October 1881; a single issue of 5, 10, 50 and 100 pesos by American Bank Note Co.; description of the 5 pesos (Pick 511); signatures; scarcity and short duration.
3. José Arcelio Gómez, Boletín Digital Numismático no. 122 (opens in a new tab): Banco Nacional overprints on private-bank notes, including Banco Hipotecario, under decree 517 of 30 October 1899.
4. Numismondo, Colombia Paper Money Catalog Index (opens in a new tab): family P.S511–P.S515, 5–100 pesos, 1881, Banco Hipotecario.
5. Sedwick & Associates, 10 pesos proofs Pick S512p (Eldorado Collection) (opens in a new tab): face and back proofs of the 10 pesos (Pick S512p) of the same bank and year, with manuscript ABNC production notes; not this 5-peso specimen.