The Sovereign State of Cundinamarca
Non-Interest-Bearing Floating-Debt Voucher · One Peso
Historical and Issue Context
Debt converted into circulating paper:unlike an ordinary bank note, this voucher documents a “floating debt” — the result of the conversion of documents that represented liquid credits and recognized against the State by the Executive Branch, converted into a short-term negotiable instrument.
Scheduled tax amortization:The text specifies that the voucher would be amortized “admitting it in payment of the active credits of the State for direct tax, caused or due until December 31, 1868”, in accordance with the law of August 13, 1869 on taxes —a mechanism that directly linked the circulation of paper to the future tax collection of the State.
Cundinamarca in the federation:As a sovereign state with capital in Bogotá, Cundinamarca issued this type of floating debt vouchers to address the instability of its central treasury, a practice shared by several of the nine states of the United States of Colombia during the federal period (1863–1886).
Key Details Visible on the Banknote
- Obverse:coat of arms of the United States of Colombia surrounded by an ornamental vignette; heading “UNITED STATES OF COLOMBIA” and the title “INTEREST-FREE FLOATING DEBT VOUCHER” repeated on all four edges.
- Main text:“The Sovereign State of Cundinamarca recognizes to the bearer the sum of ONE PESO from the conversion of documents that represented liquid credits against the State, recognized by the Executive Power”.
- Signatures:The Secretary of the Treasury and the General Administrator, with handwritten rubrics.
- Reverse:the same decorative frame on the obverse printed in specular transparency, characteristic of early lithography, with a handwritten authorization signature in blue ink superimposed.
- Printing:Lithograph by T. Paredes, Bogotá, with numbering “3667” repeated in both upper corners.
Notes
1. Standard Catalog of World Paper Money (Specialized Issues), designation Pick n.° S311, within the section of regional issues of the Sovereign State of Cundinamarca.
