Printing details for the Banco Comercial

The American Bank Note Company produced its first notes on an original order of 18 March 1890{footnote}The following plates were made
One 25c face and back plate (each of 12 notes) and one 25c tint plate.
One 50c face and back plate (each of 12 notes) and one 50c tint plate (No. 2).
One $1 face and back plate (each of 10 notes) and two $1 tint plates (No. 1 and 2).
One $5 face and back plate (each of 4 notes) and two $1 tint plates (No. 1 and 2).
One $10 face and back plate (each of 2 notes) and two $1 tint plates (No. 1 and 2).
One $20 face and back plate (each of 2 notes) and two $1 tint plates (No. 1 and 2).
One $50 face and back plate (each of 1 note) and two $1 tint plates (No. 1 and 2).
One $100 face and back plate (each of 1 note) and two $1 tint plates (No. 1 and 2).
One $500 face plate, one centre back plate and one border back plate (each of 1 note) and two $500 tint plates (No. 1 and 2). (ABNC, folder 1525, Banco Comercial de Chihuahua (1931-1932)){/footnote}.  The ABNC engraved a special vignette portrait of Miguel Hidalgo (C 172) which appears on the face of all denominations. It also produced an allegory of Commerce (the god Mercury sitting on a cashbox and flanked by Mexican motifs and the Cathedral in Chihuahua) for the reverse of the higher denominations from $5 up.

In addition, the 25c has a vignette of one of Rafael’s putti from his Madonna in the Sistine Chapel on the reverse.

The 50c has a train on the face and a miner on the reverse.

The $1 has a vignette of a cow with her calf on the face and a vignette of a muleteer with a string of pack mules on the reverse. The latter came from the National Bank Note Company’s stock of vignettes and had previously been used on the $1 Banco de Chihuahua.

The $5 has a vignette of a young Mercury with a caduceus astride an unhappy-looking dolphin in front of shipping on the face and Mercury on the reverse.

The $10 has a group of miners on the face, and Mercury on the reverse.

The $20 has a pastoral scene with a flock of sheep and a vignette of an Indian woman on the face, and Mercury on the reverse.

The $50 has a vignette of Christopher Columbus, which is the subject of this article by Peter Dunham.

The $100 has two additional vignettes on the face. The vignette of a locomotive was from the stock of the National Banknote Company and was entitled "10 Mile Canyon Palisades - Central Pacific Railroad", later numbered V-49282. The other vignette is of a miner(?) looking down on a train.

The $500 is particularly infelicitous with Liberty holding a shield on the left, and a woman and child, the "Protector of Cherubs", in the centre.

In October 1897 the series was changed to B, dateline was altered to read "Chihuahua, ______1898", and "en Moneda de Plata del cuño Mexicano"  was changed to "a la par en efectivo". All the signatures were erased and "Director" changed to "Gerente". As the government had just allowed facsimile signatures on low value notes (circular núm. 3) Enrique Creel and José M. Falomir's signatures were engraved on the $5 plate.

In November 1897 the ABNC made a new $5 face plate (of 4 notes).

In March 1899 the date and series letter were changed to 1899 and C.

The American Bank Note Company archives produce additional facts. Amongst the specimens there were two different background colours for the 1889 $1 note{footnote}The 1890 specimen has [ ], the July 1890 specimen has a diffused pink background whilst the September 1891 specimen has a lighter background{/footnote}, an 1898 $5 Series D (approved in January 1898 and so not printed) and an 1898 $50 Series C.

On 27 October 1931 Roberto Casas Alastriste, of the Comité liquidador de los Antiguos Bancos de Emisión, gave the American Bank Note Company permission to cancel the plates and these were cancelled on 18 February 1932{footnote}ABNC, folder 1525, Banco Comercial de Chihuahua (1931-1932){/footnote}.

The Columbus-Native Woman Vignette on Mexican and other Currencies

by Peter S. Dunham, Ph.D.

In this article I explore the significance of the American Bank Note Company (“ABNC”) vignette of Columbus and a Native American woman initially engraved by Charles Burt in 1868. The original, basic version is distinguished by the elegantly robed Columbus standing at left, staring distantly, sporting a tam with plume, his right hand resting on an anchor to the left, an astrolabe and chart at his feet. Offering him a handful of fruit, the semi nude native woman sits at his side to the right, gazing up at him, wearing a plumed headdress, jewellery, and feathered skirt, a blanket draped on her right knee, quiver, bow, arrow, and bunch of fruit at her feet. The die proof is labeled “Columbus,” confirming the explorer’s identity.

I employ two fairly straightforward concepts in my analyses of imagery on paper money:

1. “Visual Linguistics” – I read Mexican banknotes like Western texts, from front to back, left to right, and top to bottom, with the images accented by size, position, or framing, establishing an order and even a hierarchy of symbols.
2. The “Imaginario” – a group of images, visual, textual, or verbal, arranged to project a desired association, similar to how a photo mosaic or photo array on social media evokes an overarching theme.

The Banco Comercial de Chihuahua 50 pesos has three vignettes, two on the front and one on the back. On the front a portrait of Hidalgo, hero of independence, is in the lead position, first from left at center, in a scrolled frame captioned “Chihuahua,” where Hidalgo died, while the Columbus-native woman vignette is secondary, at front right without a frame but considerably larger than Hidalgo. A large allegory of Commerce (the god Mercury with his winged helmet, sandals, and caduceus sitting on a cash box) framed by the bank’s name (Comercial) is tertiary at back center. Mercury is flanked by Mexican motifs: a nopal cactus. maguey and the Cathedral in Chihuahua (based on Henry William Jackson’s photograph).

America

Returning to our focal vignette, the native woman symbolizes America or the Americas. With her plumed headdress, bow, arrow, quiver, feathered skirt, cape, and bare torso, she reprises the widely embraced avatar of the Americas from the four continent allegories formalized by Ripa in 1603. The same icon was broadly employed to signify America and even the US in paper money vignettes from the 1800s and she was also adapted to embody a number of American countries on medals and coins, as I have shown in my article “Native Identity and Independence on the Chihuahua Coppers of the First Republic”.

Europe/Spain

With the Native American woman signifying America, what would Columbus represent? In keeping with her example as a continental allegory, he undoubtedly personifies Europe in general. Sailing under the Spanish flag as a native of Genoa, Italy, he also stands for Spain in particular and perhaps even Italy.

Together the figures signal the encounter between the “Old” and “New Worlds”, but as America presents her fruits (resources) to Europe/Spain, his gaze is fixed beyond her as if he is looking for more than just fruit.

Sources for the vignette

The Columbus-America vignette builds on a long artistic history of pairing such figures. For example, Galle’s engraving of c1600 features a Columbus-like Amerigo Vespucci standing before America seated on a hammock, Persico’s 1844 statue, formerly at the east portico of the U.S. Capitol, has a triumphant Columbus looming over a cowering America stripped nearly naked, whilst Vela’s bronze in Colón, Panamá, which debuted at the 1867 Paris Exposition, presents a towering Columbus comforting a traumatized America.

However, the ABNC vignette draws directly from two monumental sculptures in Lima, Peru and Genoa, Italy, both designed by Salvatore Revelli:

• they share the same composition as the vignette but reversed; it was probably engraved as seen and flipped when printed;
• the 1860 statue in Lima clothes a standing Columbus in tam and finery nearly identical to the vignette and equips a seated America with her arrow and quiver, looking up at Columbus, like the vignette,
• the 1862 marble in Genoa introduces the anchor to Columbus and fruit to America.

With vignette artists unlikely to visit far-off statues, photos and engravings predating the 1868 vignette were probably used as models:

• Lima – Courret released a promising photo (1860s) and Semino published a litho (1855) in Michelangelo, both sharing the same aspect as the vignette.

• Genoa – there were multiple images, a number comparable in aspect to the vignette, like Sommer’s stereoview (c1862-66) and the woodcut (1850s) in Leipziger Ilustrierte Zeitung.

• Colón – the Michelez photo from the 1867 Paris Expo and the Blanadet-Jonnaro woodcut (1867) in L’universo illusrato again offer aspects similar to the vignette
• U.S. Capitol – the Bell stereoview (1867) and Best-Leloir woodcut (1845) in Le magasin pittoresque provide helpful likenesses.

Paper Money Applications

The Columbus-America vignette was used on banknotes of nine countries in mainland Spain and throughout the Americas, including Mexico. In all cases the vignette is either primary or secondary, always on the front, and when secondary, it is usually accentuated by being larger and/or in a frame.

The associated notes are generally among the highest denominations in their series, placing an elevated value on the image and these high values also fostered its circulation among wealthier users and commercial institutions, such as banks.

Original Version

The vignette varied among applications, the initial variety (V-47313 591) being the basic one, Columbus and Native America alone, sans elaboration. Engraved by Burt in 1868, it was fi rst used on the Peruvian bill (50 pesos, El Banco Nacional del Peru) in 1872, four years later. This was not likely a custom order but probably also not random, either, as a main source image from which it was modeled, the Lima statue, is in Peru.

The vignette was heavily utilized. It also appeared on Colombian (100 pesos, Banco de Marquez, c1882), Bolivian (100 bolivianos, El Banco Nacional de Bolivia, c1883), and Venezuelan notes (100 pesos, Banco Comercial, c886), four of the full complement of nine (44%).

The original 50 pesos, El Banco Nacional del Peru

100 bolivianos, El Banco Nacional de Bolivia

Spanish Variant

1,000 pesetas, El Banco de España

A second version of the vignette (V-47149 772) was developed for the Spanish note (1,000 pesetas, El Banco de España, 1876); engraved by William Charlton in 1875, it was “Spanishized”. A (Spanish?) sailing ship was added at left, at right the royal coat of arms of the Spanish monarchy from 1700 to 1931; the Spanish arms appropriate the scene for Spain and tag Columbus as the personification of Spain, not just of Europe and in the title “Reception of Columbus” the die proof hints that the Americas welcomed the Old World (Spain), painting imperialism in a sympathetic light.

Other Banknote Variations

100 pesos, Banco de España y Rio de la Plata

50 centavos, El Banco Español de la Habana

Other varieties are adaptations of the Spanish version, plus or minus national insignia The Dominican Republic (50 pesos, El Banco de la Compañía de Crédito de Puerto Plata, c1886) and Mexican bills employ the Spanish vignette but with the Spanish arms supplanted by vegetation at right; the Uruguayan (100 pesos, Banco de España y Rio de la Plata, 1888) note, issued by a joint Spanish-Argentine bank, maintains the Spanish arms at right but replaces the ship with the Argentine arms at left, whilst the Cuban bill (50 centavos, El Banco Español de la Habana, 1889) adds the arms of Habana to the Spanish arms at right, above two hemispheres, navigational aids, and a caduceus for commerce, all below a crown.

Relatively Long Lifespan

As vignettes go, this Columbus-America motif had a fairly long span of use and currency. Following its creation by Burt in 1868, its fi rst use on a banknote was in 1872 on the Peruvian note; it was utilized most heavily during the 1880s on six bills throughout Latin America, and its last appearance on a banknote was in 1898 on the Mexican note, 30 years after its original creation. It was resurrected as late as the 1970s on a stock certificate for Telefónica de España, over a century after its initial formulation.

It also inspired a series of images in other media. Several brands of cigars produced for the World Fair of the Columbian quadricennial of 1893 in Chicago bore images on their labels that were based on it, where a native woman sits on right gazing up at and handing tobacco leaves to an elegant Columbus standing in center with anchor, backed by ship(s) at left. For the Columbian quincentenary, in 1985, the Dominican Republic released a postal stamp with a color version of the vignette.

Conclusions

The 50 note of the Banco Comercial de Chihuahua has a vignette of Columbus and a native woman, in a secondary place on front right, after a portrait of Hidalgo, and represents a truly Hispanic motif. The original version of this vignette was engraved by Charles Burt in 1868. Based on the avatar for the Americas of the allegories of the four continents, the indigenous woman personifies America, while Columbus signifies Europe in general and Spain in particular. Together, they signal the meeting of the New and Old Worlds with America volunteering Spain her resources, a very kindly take on a violent imperial encounter. Building on a tradition of these paired figures, the vignette is modeled after two statues by Revelli in Lima and Genoa, and was likely developed from available photos and/or lithos of the sculptures.

The same vignette was employed on a total of nine notes from Spain throughout Latin America, from 1872 to 1898. Always on the front and in primary or secondary, it was generally used on high- denomination notes, elevating its value. A second version with a ship at left and Spanish arms right, was engraved by Charlton in 1875 for a Spanish note, while other bills utilized either the original variant or variations on the Spanish vignette, adding or subtracting national emblems. The Mexican application was the last on paper money, perhaps capitalizing on the image’s widespread use and standing.

The vignette enjoyed a long lifespan, some 30 years on notes, and resuscitated again in the 1970s on a Spanish stock certificate. It also inspired other derivative imagery, from tobacco labels to a Dominican Republic stamp.

Acknowledgements

I owe a great debt to a number of people for their crucial encouragement and material support in the development of this presentation: as always, my wife Beth Ekelman who endures my endless investigative adventures; Cory Frampton and the USMexNA for putting together the Convention platform every year, and Liliana Feinburg, Olianna Zelles, and the late Arthur Morowitz of the Champion Stamp Company for their friendship and generous access to the imagery I study.

Issues of El Banco Comercial

25c notes

50c notes

$1 notes

$5 notes

$10 notes

$20 notes

$50 notes

Some $50 notes{footnote}known numbers include Series A 00362, 00534, 00562, Series B 0101, 0104, 0452, 0477{/footnote} have a script O above and behind the Indian woman’s right shoulder.

$100 notes

$500 notes

Notes in circulation

From 1890 the bank published a brief balance sheet every month in the Periódico Oficial, including the total value of notes in circulation.

The new Banco Comercial must always have been overshadowed by the other Terrazas-Creel bank, the Banco Minero, and it can be seen that its own issue of notes was remarkably small. It finally merged with the Banco Minero on 1 July 1900{footnote}El Norte, 1 July 1900. Creel had proposed the merger in February 1900 to increase the Banco Minero’s capital assets.{/footnote} and officials of the latter bank were in charge of the withdrawal of all its notes.

Incinerations

Some notes were withdrawn in the early years of the bank but we only know that $25,000 were incinerated on 23 March 1899{footnote}Report of Interventor Ahumada, 29 July 1899{/footnote}, $48,075 were incinerated on 8 July 1899 and $200,000 on 24 September 1899. In its Memoria de las Instituciones de Crédito 1897-1899 the Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público reported that up to 31 December 1899 $1,005,000 had been authorised, of which $293,075 had been amortised, $469,710 was in circulation and the remaining $242,215 was in the head office or the branches{footnote} Memoria de las Instituciones de Crédito 1897, 1898, 1899{/footnote}. So if these are correct, another $20,000 had been withdrawn some time before the end of 1899.

The following table records the withdrawal and destruction of Banco Comercial notes after its merger with the Banco Minero.

In fact, these records are faulty, as is obvious from the fact that $1, $5, $10 and $50 notes still exist. On 15 January 1920 Juan Creel, from El Paso, wrote to Enrique Creel asking about notes of the Banco Comercial and Banco Mexicano. The notes that he had in El Paso that could be incinerated he had sent to Mexico City to be destroyed, but in Mexico there were some notes that were of the denominations that had been filled up (de las denominaciones cuya emisión está agotada), whilst Sr. Ginther still had $6,600 from the two banks in Santa Rosalía, and he had $2,400 in his office. He wanted to know what to do, since they could not be officially incinerated{footnote}CEHM, Fondo Creel, 251, 64310{/footnote}. Enrique told him to destroy them, keeping a record of the fact in the bank’s confidential files, without making any entry in the bank’s accounts, and to make up the amount by deducting it from the sale of some securities (unless he had a better idea){footnote} CEHM, Fondo Creel, 252, 64599, letter Enrique C. Creel, Los Angeles to Juan A. Creel, El Paso, 19 January 1920{/footnote}. Juan agreed{footnote}CEHM, Fondo Creel, 251, 64335{/footnote}.

In March 1931 the Comité Liquidador de los Antiguos Bancos de Emisión started an investigation to determine whether the balance of the Banco Comercial’s notes had been incorporated into the Banco Minero’s balance of outstanding notes, or was included in its “Old Accounts (Cuentas Antiguas)”. If the former was the case, any outstanding Banco Comercial notes would have been demonetized from 1 March 1931 (according to the 30 August 1930 decree) but if the latter, they would still have a value, as not being banknotes but a particular kind of security{footnote}El Revolucionario, 17 March 1931{/footnote}. Does this suggest that someone still had a substantial amount in these notes?