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American Bank Note Company print runs

The American Bank Note Company produced the following notes.

For the $5 note the signature of "Eulogio Duarte" as Director was engraved on the notes. The 1896 notes read "Pagará a la vista al portador en dinero effectivo la cantidad de"

Date Value Number Series from to
December 1896 $5 4,000 B 1 4000
$50 1,600 B 1 6000

 

In the following runs the text was altered to "Pagará a la vista al portador a la par en dinero effectivo la cantidad de" 

Mercantil Yucatan 5 C 00000

Mercantil Yucatan 5 C 00000 reverse

Date Value Number Series from to
January 1898 $5 8,000 C 4001 12000
  $50 3,200 C 1,601 4,800

 

Mercantil de Yucatan 50 C 00000

Mercantil de Yucatan 50 C 00000 reverse

Date Value Number Series from to
March 1898 $5 10,000 C 12001 22000
$50 3,200 C 4801 8000

 

Date Value Number Series from to
June 1899 $5 2,800 D 22001 24800
$50 5,000 D 8001 13000

 

Date Value Number Series from to
September 1899 $50 5,000 E 13001 18000

 

Date Value Number Series from to
January 1900 $10 25,000 F 1 12500
H 12501 25000
$100 10,000 F 1 5000
H 5001 10000
$500 500 F 1 250
H 251 500

 

For the September 1900 print run the ABNC typed "Diciembre" after "México" and before "1900".

Mercantil Yucatan 10 G 00000

Mercantil Yucatan 10 G 00000 reverse

Date Value Number Series from to
September 1900 $5 2,000 G 24801 26800

 

For the 1903 run Duarte's signature was removed from the $5 plate.

Mercantil Yucatan 5 H 00000

Mercantil Yucatan 5 H 00000 reverse

Mercantil Yucatan 10 H 00000

Mercantil Yucatan 10 H 00000 reverse

Mercantil Yucatan 50 H 00000

Mercantil Yucatan 50 H 00000 reverse

Mercantil Yucatan 100 H 00000

Mercantil Yucatan 100 H 00000 reverse

Mercantil de Yucatan 500 H 00000

Mercantil de Yucatan 500 H 00000 reverse

Date Value Number Series from to
February 1903 $5 16,000 H 26801 42800
$10 15,000 H 25001 40000
$50 6,000 H 18001 24000
$100 5,000 H 10001 15000
$500 1,000 H 501 1,500

Signatures

Director

DuarteEulogio Duarte Troncoso was born in 1841. He came from an important family of sugar hacendados, including Anselmo Duarte de la Ruela, who had been dedicated to the production of sugarcane since the beginning of the nineteenth century. With his sons, Anselmo Duarte formed “Duarte Hermanos,” which was a major player in the henequen industry.

Duarte possessed multiple henequen estates and served as vice president of the Cámara Permanente, an organisation established to protect the interests of the henequen barons. In 1893 Duarte bought the Hacienda San Juan Bautista Tabi from Governor Carlos Peón, He invested heavily, with modern machinery and even bringing sixty Cuban sugar experts to improve agricultural and refining techniques, and made Tabi the foremost hacienda in the state. Despite the transformative and modernising effects of capital investment and industrialisation at Tabi and other estates, many preindustrial features hacienda life persisted, including peonage.

Duarte died on 27 February 1904.

sig Duarte

Roberto Casellas RivasRoberto Casellas Rivas was the son of Catalan immigrants and practiced as a lawyer and banker. He served as treasurer to governor Carlos Peón Machado (1894-1897) who reorganised the statewide collection of taxes. Casellas Rivas argued that the new system was necessary because in the past, the state, perennially in debt, had been forced to borrow money from the private sector to pay employees’ salaries.

In 1906, on President Díaz’ visit to the state Casellas Rivas was was described as someone well known and appreciated for his vast knowledge of banking (persona muy conocida y apreciada por sus vastos conocimientos en el ramo bancario).

He died in Mérida on 6 January 1911.

sig Director f

Cajero

Benito Aznar Santamaria

Was treasurer of the Cámara de Comercio in 1886Semana Mercantil, 15 March 1886.

Aznar was originally the Administrador but continued being manager but with the title of Director from 1 February 1903Períodico Oficial, 6 February 1903

sig Aznar
Antonio Cáceres Andrade was promoted from Contador to Cajero from 1 February 1903Períodico Oficial, 6 February 1903. sig Caceres

Interventor

Manuel Heredia Argüelles was born in 1845. He was a printer who from 1870 published the oficial gazette, La Razón del pueblo. In 1875 he bought the government printing press and received a contract to publish La Razón del pueblo. Later he was an editor of Pimienta y Mostaza, and then Interventor of the bank.

In 1890 Heredia was ungraciously described as “plump, fat and stale, with hair, moustache and billy-goat beard of thick gray and overly curly; he has a deep bass voice and is the father of numerous progeny (rechoncho, gordo y trigueño, con pelo, bigote y espesa perilla canosos y excesivamente rizados; tiene voz de bajo profundo y es padre de prole numerosa)” Eduardo Urzaiz, Cartas de un exialiado, UADY, Mérida, 1990, p89.

sig Arguelles