The $1 and $2 notes of the Banco Oriental de México

The Banco Oriental was one of the banks that took advantage when on 19 November 1913 Huerta permitted the banks to issue $1 and $2 notes.

On 4 January a meeting of around eighty people was held in the Cámara de Comercio de Puebla, to discuss the matter of the notes of the state banks. They decided to ask President Huerta to decree their forced circulation and agreed to send a commission, including Manuel Rivero Collarda, to Mexico City to hold the necessary meetings with the Secretaría de Hacienda. In particular the commission would seek authorization for the Banco Oriental to issue 50c and $1 notes^{El Diario, Año VIII, Núm. 2099, 5 January 1914}.

The American Bank Note Company

The bank originally had discussion with the American Bank Note Company about a 50c issue.  On 21 January 1914 Charles Blackmore, the ABNC’s Resident Agent in Mexico City, reported that when Manuel Rivero Collada gave him the details for the fifty centavos notes he said he was going to await the receipt of models before asking the Government for the necessary authority to issue the notes and that he could tell Enrique Creel of the Banco Minero de Chihuahua as in all probability Collada and Creel would work in unison and issue these fractional currency notes at the same time^ABNC. The ABNC did get to the stage of producing proofs and specimens.

On 27 February the Banco Minero wrote that they waited until they knew whether the Banco Oriental had been successful in securing permission to issue 50 centavos notes, because it seems that if they could not obtain authority neither would the Banco Minero^{American Bank Note Company,} so it might be that the bank sought permission in February. In fact, Huerta did not authorise the issue of 50c notes until 30 March.

The bank did get the ABNC to produce 50c, $1 and $2 notes in June and July 1914. The $1 and $2 notes were never delivered to the bank and were destroyed in December 1924.

American Book and Printing Company 

Meanwhile the American Book and Printing Company of Mexico City produced $1 and $2 notes. The ABNC’s comments on these notes were that “the general make-up of the design on the face is not bad except from the standpoint of printing. The backs, however, are simply copied from notes we furnished previously. We are very glad the public have criticised these notes, and trust the bank will see the folly of trying to get bank notes printing by an ordinary printing establishment.”^{ABNC, folder 300, Banco Oriental de México (1909-1914(June)}.

These are known in two different varieties: various dates in January or February with round seals on their face, or notes dated 1 or 22 April (and issued in Mexico City) with square seals.

Because of these differences by mid May there was alarm that the notes had been been counterfeited and some people refused to accept notes with the square resello. The bank’s lawyer, Nicanor Gurría Urgell, told the newspapers that all the notes were genuine, and the different seals were a security measure against counterfeiters^{El País, Mexico, Tomo I, Año X, Núm. 4620, 18 May 1914; El Correo Español, 18 May 1914; El Imparcial, Tomo XXXV, Núm. 6450, 18 May 1914}. The next day the bank amplified its explanation. The bank kept a secret register in which it recorded the serial numbers of notes and the corresponding seal. Thus serial numbers 1-700 has one seal, 701-1300 another, 1301-1900 the first or yet another, and so on. This would confuse potential counterfeiters. The  bank also acknowledged that it had been impossible to get banknotes from New York, so arranged this printing, of a different size and design to avoid the appearance of forgery^{El Imparcial, 19 May 1914}. Urgell's comment about the different seals was a "misdirection", as the seals could easily be tied to two particular dates.

Issues

$1 notes

$2 notes

The American Book and Printing Company also produced samples for a $5 and a $10 note, which suggests that the bank had used up its stock of ABNC notes.