American Bank Note Company print runs

The vignettes used are discussed here.

The original 25c, 50c, $1 and $10 face, back and tint plates were engraved on 24 July 1888^{ABNC, folder 155, Banco Minero (1903(Dec)-1908(May)}.

The original $5, $20, $50 and $100 face, back and tint plates were engraved in August 1888.

In July 1889 the face plates of the 25c and $1 notes were changed to Series B.

In November 1894 the date and series of the $1 face plate were changed.

In October 1895 the date on the $5 plate was changed from 1888 to 1896.

On 15 February 1897 the dates and series of the $5, $10 and $100 plates were changed.

In October 1897 the date and series on the $5, $10, $20, $50 amd $100 face plates were changed and the text changed to "pagará a la vista al portador a la par en efectivo".

Again the series and date were altered for September and October 1898 printings.

In March 1901 a new $5 plate was engraved, leaving the series blank. The $50 and $100 plates were altered to 1901, with new series.

In February 1902, with order F12, the ABNC produced a $1,000 note with vignette C 996 on the reverse. The $5 face plates  was changed with two notes with the date 1902, two with 1903 and two with 1904. The $10 and $100 face plates had the series erased and the date changed.

In December 1902 four of the dates on the $5 plate were changed so all six read 1903. The date was changed and the series erased on the $20 and $50 peso plates (F147).

In December 1903 the dates on the $5 face plate were changed to 1904 (F310).

In September 1905 Creel's signature on the $5 and $10 was erased and the date changed to 1906 (F685).

In November 1906 the date on the $5 plate was changed to 1907 and the word "Serie" inserted on the right (F1030).

In November 1907, with order F1355, new plates were engraved for the $5 and $10, leaving off the date and Ochoa's signature.

In April 1908, on order F1534, the ANBC engraved a new face, a new back and a special vignette for the back of the $1,000 note but the order was cancelled on 8 May 1908. This order was entered to replace $1,000 notes stolen from the bank and was cancelled when the stolen currency was recovered^ibid.. In October 1909 the date 1903 was erased from the $20, $50 and $100 face plates, leaving the space blank (F2192).

In December 1909 the ABNC prepared six signature dies for Luis Terrazas and cancelled the dies of Inocente Ochoa (F2299).

On 22 March 1910 the bank placed an order for $100,000 in $5.00 and $100,000 in $10.00 notes^{ABNC letter, Juan A. Creel to ABNC, 22 March 1910}. On 6 April they wrote to suspend the order, as they had decided to commemorate the first centennial of Mexican independence with a special issue. A memorandum specified that, if the ABNC had not already started printing, “it is our desire that the five and ten pesos notes which you are engraving at present, be made exactly as they are on the face, while on the back of the note to be divided in three equal parts, having the National colors: green, white and red, and in the middle of the back of the notes, or on the white space, which will be on the center, the engraving of Sun and Liberty Cap, such as used in the reverse of the Mexican silver peso, with the inscription on top of the circle reading “PRIMER CENTENARIO DE LA INDEPENDENCIA MEXICANA”, and on the same circle below the numbers “1910”. … As in our opinion the plain colors of green and red will not look well, you may place underneath each of them an interwoven, some kind of a back-ground, such as used in our $1,000.00 peso notes, without disturbing the effect of the said colors^{ABNC letter 6 April 1910}”. On 20 April the ABNC sent models of the two backs, stating “If you so desire, we can print in the centre where the Cap of Liberty is shown, an underlying tint, which we could arrange to have made as light as possible, so as not to destroy the effect of the National colors. We would have liked to make up more artistic models than the ones we are sending you, but as the three colors have to be very distinct, they could not very well be arranged in a different manner"^{ABNC, letter 20 April 1910}. The bank replied that the design was correct but the green and red colours were not satisfactory “inasmuch as they are not the National colors of México, specially the red which is more or less a sort of orange tint instead of red, and with the object of avoiding any misunderstanding, we are returning by registered mail the models and sample of the National colors of México, and it is our belief that you can very easily adopt them. The green is more or less what we want, but would like to have you match as near as possible to the sample, and unless you can supply the red as it is given on the sample, we would not care to have you proceed with the order, in which event please telegraph to us that we may given you further instructions”^{ABNC, telegram and letter bank to ABNC, 26 April 1910}.

On 4 May the ABNC sent an exact proof of the colour on bank note paper that they proposed to use. “As you will note, we have improved very much on the green and red. This red is as near as we can come to the specimen sent us. Physically speaking, it is impossible for us to improve on the red, - the printing being done by lithography, and we trust that the same will be satisfactory to you”^{ABNC, letter, 4 May 1910}. The bank approved, and the ABNC was able to ship the notes on 20 June, in time for the celebrations.

In April 1910 the ABNC engraved special backs for an issue of $5 and $10 notes commemorating the centenary of Mexican independence (F2457).

In November 1912 the ABNC prepared six electros of the signature of José María Aguirre Hernández to fit in the space for Interventor on the six values (F3485).

Forty thousand $5 notes (I4-P4, 430001-470000) were ordered on 18 December 1912 and shipped complete on 5 April 1913, by Wells Fargo Express, to the Banco Central Mexicano in Mexico City. On 9 May Wells Fargo advised the ABNC that they were holding the shipment on hand at Laredo and that there were standing against it accrued charges of $73. 05. The ABNC instructed them to hold it subject to further orders and at the same time wrote to the Banco Minero in Chihuahua, asking what they should do. They had no reply and wrote again on 6 August. On 11 August they sent a copy of their last letter to Charles T. Blackmore, their Agent in Mexico City, to see if he could send it through to the bank at Chihuahua. As of 15 September the shipment was still being held at Laredo^{ABNC letter 15 September 1913}. On 21 November the notes were returned from Laredo to New York^{ABNC letter Wells Fargo to ABNC, 24 November 1913} and forwarded to the Banco Central Mexicano by the Ward Line steamer, S.S. Morro Castle, on 4 December^{ABNC letter Wells Fargo to ABNC, 29 November 1913}.

Twenty thousand $10 notes (G5-Z5, 110001-130000) were ordered on 18 December 1912 and shipped complete on 5 April 1913, by Wells Fargo Express, to the Banco Central Mexicano in Mexico City. On 9 May Wells Fargo advised the ABNC that they were holding the shipment on hand at Laredo and that there were standing against it accrued charges of $73. 05. The ABNC instructed them to hold it subject to our further orders and at the same time wrote to the Banco Minero in Chihuahua, asking what they should do. They had reply and wrote again on 6 August. On 11 August they sent a copy of our last letter to Charles T. Blackmore, their Agent in Mexico City, to see if he could send it through to the bank at Chihuahua. As of 15 September the shipment was still being held at Laredo¹⁴. On 21 November the notes were returned from Laredo to New York¹⁵ and forwarded to the Banco Central Mexicano by the Ward Line steamer, S.S. Morro Castle, on 4 December¹⁶.

When the bank decided to issue $1 notes, in January 1913 the ABNC altered the original $1 plate by removing the date 1895, Series letter A and the signatures (F3985).

In March 1914 the American Bank Note Company printed another 1,500 notes in the original design, but though these were shipped to Mexico, they spent six years in storage there before finally being incinerated. In May 1914 these notes were understood to be held in the Banco Central Mexicano, awaiting authorisation^{CEHM, Fondo Creel, 23566} and four hundred and fifty notes (1551 to 2000) were authorised by the Secretaría de Hacienda on 7 July 1914 but, because they were too large a denomination to circulate easily, on 1 August 1914 the Bank asked to change the authorisation to $450,000 in five and ten pesos notes^{CEHM, Fondo Creel, 22041, letter of Enrique C. Creel, 1 August 1914}.

However, it seems that the notes never left the Wells Fargo office in Veracruz. In August 1917 Juan A. Creel was writing to Enrique Creel about arranging with that office to cancel and incinerate all the notes they were holding^{CEHM, Fondo Creel, 49047, letter of Juan A. Creel, 6 August 1917}, but as both Creels were out of the country it took years to come to fruition. Juan raised the subject again in January 1919^{CEHM, Fondo Creel, 56449, letter of Juan A. Creel, 20 January 1919}, but Enrique hesitated because of the remote possibility that the Banco Minero might continue as a bank of issue^{CEHM, Fondo Creel, 56916, letter of Enrique C. Creel, 23 January 1919}. However, by February they had agreed to pay Wells Fargo’s bill, and incinerate the notes. The 1,500 notes (numbered 1001-2500) were finally destroyed on 17 April 1920^{CEHM, Fondo Creel, 66473, letter of Juan A. Creel, 26 April 1920}.

Also, in March 1914 the $1,000 face plate was altered by taking out the year (F4138).