The Republic of Cuba
One Peso · No. 13085 · Series B
Historical and Issue Context
The official ticket of the revolution:unlike the receipt of voluntary contribution from this same collection, this document is one of the debt notes that the Junta issued directly on behalf of the Republic of Cuba in Arms, following the loan of twenty million pesos authorized on June 1, 1869 to finance the Liberation Army during the Ten Years' War.
Convertibility into bonds:The text specifies that the bill was exchangeable for Bonds of the Republic of Cuba, as long as it was presented at the Board's Treasury in New York in amounts of one hundred pesos or more —, a mechanism designed so that small circulation bills, like this one peso one, could accumulate and become the formal public debt of the nascent republic.
José Morales Lemus:A Cuban lawyer and politician, he chaired the Republican Central Board of Cuba and Puerto Rico from his exile in New York, becoming the main diplomatic and financial representative of the Cuban separatist cause before the U.S. government and civil society until his death in 1870.
Key Details Visible on the Banknote
- Header:“THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA, through the Central Republican Board of Cuba and Puerto Rico”, with two circular counters “1” framed in the upper corners.
- Debt text:“Acknowledges itself indebted to the bearer in the sum of ONE PESO. This banknote is convertible into Bonds of the REPUBLIC OF CUBA upon presentation at the Junta Treasury, in amounts of one hundred pesos or less”.
- Ornamental typographic engraving:borders of fine interlaced lines (guilloché) typical of American security printing of the time, without figurative vignettes —an austere design typical of a war issue made quickly and with limited resources.
- Reverse:repeats the obverse design in mirror image and lighter ink, without additional security printing.
Additional Context
This bill forms a natural pair with the contribution receipt of 1,500 pesos from the same Board, dated just weeks before: together they document the two sides of the financial machinery of the Cuban and Puerto Rican independence exile in New York —on the one hand, the voluntary contributions of individuals committed to the cause; on the other, the war paper money issued directly by the Junta in the name of the nascent Republic. Both types of documents are today extraordinarily scarce, having circulated in a small and clandestine environment, outside the ordinary commercial circuits.
Sources
- Pick, Albert.Standard Catalog of World Paper Money — Specialized Issues.
- National Archive of Cuba
- Heritage Auctions —ha.com(opens in a new tab)
- Numista —numista.com(opens in a new tab)