El Banco Internacional

A wartime overprint, fifteen years later:The red circular “BANCO NACIONAL” seal stamped over the central vignette, together with the inscription printed on the reverse, documents an episode later than and distinct from the original issue: in 1899, at the outbreak of the Thousand Days’ War, the government authorized the reuse of withdrawn banknotes held by private banks —including Banco de Bogotá, Banco Internacional, Banco Hipotecario, Banco de Márquez, Banco Popular, Banco de la Unión, and Caja de Propietarios— by restamping them as provisional Banco Nacional notes with seals and inscriptions.²

The text of the stamp, word for word:The inscription printed on the reverse of this specimen reproduces, almost literally, the formula documented by historians: “This banknote provisionally circulates as a banknote of the National Bank, in accordance with decree N.° 517 of October 30, 1899”. Central vignette: rural scene with a loaded oxcart, in green ink.²

Historical and Issue Context

One of nine banks in Bogotá in 1884:The International Bank issued these banknotes in Bogotá during the era of free banking, when the capital had nine of its own private banks. The crisis caused by the forced course of 1886 and the banking reform of 1887 hit this private bank hard: of the nine Bogotá banks of 1884, only four remained in 1892.¹

A second stamp, a different decree:unlike the One Peso banknote —restamped under Decree N.° 517—, this Ten Pesos specimen carries a different formula: “This banknote is treated in every respect as those of the Banco Nacional and circulates under the guarantee of the Republic. Decree N.° 509 of October 30, 1899”. Both decrees, promulgated on the same day, show that the government issued specific provisions —possibly by bank or denomination— to formalize the reuse of private banknotes as circulating money during the fiscal emergency of the Thousand Days’ War.²

Financing the war without a new printing press:The use of old re-stamped banknotes, together with the Official Lithography made available to the Issuance Board, allowed the government to multiply the monetary mass in circulation between 1899 and 1903 to sustain the expenditure of the war, without depending exclusively on new circulations of banknotes.²

Key Details Visible on Banknotes

• Vignette of the Un Peso:rural scene with a loaded oxcart, in green ink, representative of the agricultural iconography common on 19th century Colombian banknotes.
• Vignette of the Diez Pesos:allegory of Justice, seated female figure with scales in one hand and sword in the other, in pinkish ink —Classic iconography of banking probity, different from the rural scene of the lower denomination bill.
• Text of the obligation:“Will pay the bearer on demand Ten Pesos in current currency”, with the heading “Bogotá, December 15, 1884” and signature lines for Managing Director, Second Director, and Third Director.
• Numbering:“Serie C” and “N.° 04600”, printed in red on the corners of the front, next to the header “THE INTERNATIONAL BANK”.
• Imprint:“American Bank Note Co., New York”, printed in small print under the Justice vignette.
• Reverse of the Un Peso — overprint inscription:in red ink, on the green guilloché: “This banknote provisionally circulates as a banknote of the National Bank, in accordance with decree N.° 517 of October 30, 1899”.
• Reverse of the Diez Pesos — overprint inscription:in black ink on the red guilloché: “This bill is completely assimilated to those of the National Bank and circulates under the guarantee of the Republic. Decree N.° 509 of October 30, 1899”, with the handwritten date “Bogotá, October 30, 1899” in the lower left corner.
• Reverse — central medallion:large oval with the name “INTERNATIONAL” diagonally, handwritten signatures and the lines “The Cashier” and “Minister of the Treasury”, together with the legend “Members of the Board of Issue” at the bottom edge —evidence of the temporary state administration imposed on the re-stamped note.

Additional Context

These specimens bring together, in two complementary pieces, two different moments in Colombian monetary history: the original issuance of a private bank in Bogotá in the era of free banking (1884), and its forced reuse fifteen years later as an instrument of state financing during the Thousand Days' War (1899) —a documentary bridge between the decline of regional banking and the monetary centralization that would culminate, in 1923, with the creation of the Bank of the Republic.