Translate / Traducir

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.

 189018911892189318941895
Jan   66,178·00 193,884·25 196,776.50 86,424·00 136,692·00
Feb   97,430·25 183,608·25 212,840·00 75,789.00 122,782·00
Mar   127,429·00 178,651·25 196,675·00 78,005·50 120,595·00
Apr   145,307·00 164,294·00 171,903·38 78,821·50 127,779·00
May   154,863·00 183,573·25 140,925·13 90,649·25 138,211·25
Jun   161,280·75 158,677·25 114,346·00 83,705.00 131,442·50
Jul   168,419·25 175,168·25 111,174·25 98,635·00 154,080·00
Aug   169,595·00 173,888·00 99,594·00 107,294·00 145,126·00
Sep   179,694·50 178,561·50 88,078·75 109,403·50 150,061·00
Oct   190,267·00 170,134·50 91,885·50 106,732·25 147,333·00
Nov   187,064.25 194,441·50 98,858·00 123,114·25 158,059·00
Dec 35,850·00 191,005·50 189,586.00 89,692·50 136,673·25 165,688·00

 

 18961897189818991900
Jan 164,150·00 180,991·00 270,347·75 335,500·00 517,105·00
Feb 152,106.50 206,479·00 259,458·75 380,105·00 582,995·00
Mar 152,217·00 206,603·00 248,563·25 371,237·00 578,083·00
Apr 145,409·00 208,644·75 269,353·75 368,594·00 591,940·50
May 159,818·50 205,815·00 296,610·75 409,197·00 562,439·00
Jun 157,602·00 249,475·50 286,069·75 446,249·00 596,098·50
Jul 166,443·00 271,984·50 246,281·00 450,285·00  
Aug 171,733·00 262,598·00 246,125·00 453,749·00  
Sep 176,404·00 258,193·00 297,341·50 453,373·00  
Oct 179,640·25 258,762·00 321,312·00 440,415·50  
Nov 181,287·00 268,086·00 305,518·25 447,828·00  
Dec 185,161.00 279,369·75 303,502·50 469,710·00  

 

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 1900El Norte, 1 July 1900. Creel had proposed the merger in February 1900 to increase the Banco Minero’s capital assets. 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Some notes were withdrawn in the early years of the bank but we only know that $25,000 were incinerated on 23 March 1899Report of Interventor Ahumada, 29 July 1899, $48,075 were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 Memoria de las Instituciones de Crédito 1897, 1898, 1899. 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.

 25c50c$1$5$10$20$50$100Total
Opening balance at
1 July 1900
1,855.00 1,602.00 11,563.00 155,830.00 95,470.00 136,980.00 74,400.00 148,300.00 626,000.00
Incinerations                  
16 July 1900     2,000.00 10,000.00 7,000.00 2,000.00     21,000.00
6 September 1900   1.50 2,800.00 6,100.00         8,901.50
24 September 1900         860.00 840.00 5,000.00   6,700.00
28 May 1901   100.00 5,200.00 1,500.00         6,800.00
24 September 1901 25.00 50.00 600.00 970.00     450.00 800.00 2,895.00
24 March 1902 25.00   600.00 2,080.00 120.00 120.00 50.00   2,995.00
30 June 1902     200.00 2,575.00 140.00 520.00 400.00 500.00 4,335.00
10 September 1902 19.75   127.00 2,365.00 1,140.00 560.00 350.00 300.00 4,861.75
27 November 1902       1,770.00 170.00 380.00 400.00 100.00 2,820.00
16 April 1903 4.50 23.50 9.00 10,045.00 2,000.00 1,420.00 650.00 1,200.00 15,352.00
29 August 1903       7,000.00 1,000.00 1,000.00     9,000.00
23 November 1903   1.00   7,130.00 2,650.00 1,440.00 1,200.00 1,000.00 13,421.00
13 February 1904       5,915.00 1,800.00 1,400.00   500.00 9,615.00
28 May 1904 2.50 18.50   6,165.00 2,250.00 1,540.00 1,100.00 600.00 11,676.00
27 October 1904       6,000.00 2,000.00       8,000.00
11 November 1904       3,500.00 1,000.00 1,000.00     5,500.00
30 January 1905 0.25 0.50     4,340.00 2,120.00 1,000.00 600.00 8,060.75
28 March 1905       10,995.00 1,000.00       11,995.00
17 June 1905       7,500.00 5,000.00 3,000.00     15,500.00
25 July 1905       3,555.00 4,410.00 4,040.00 2,100.00 2,200.00 16,305.00
8 November 1905       10,000.00 8,000.00 4,000.00     22,000.00
28 November 1905       4,000.00 2,720.00 3,360.00 2,300.00 2,900.00 15,280.00
27 March 1906   3.50 4.00 8,240.00 4,490.00 5,420.00 2,050.00 8,100.00 28,307.50
26 June 1906       9,855.00 5,000.00 5,000.00 2,650.00 3,500.00 26,005.00
30 July 1906       3,000.00 2,000.00 2,000.00     7,000.00
1 September 1906 2.25 1.00 16.00 2,865.00 1,640.00 1,640.00 1,350.00 3,900.00 11,414.25
24 October 1906       3,315.00 1,540.00 1,540.00 950.00 2,000.00 9,345.00
11 May 1907       9,000.00         9,000.00
23 July 1907       2,380.00 7,910.00 8,260.00 4,250.00 7,500.00 30,300.00
30 October 1907       2,400.00 3,040.00 5,620.00 2,650.00 6,200.00 18,910.00
12 May 1908       3,000.00 9,000.00 24,000.00 15,000.00 40,000.00 91,000.00
21 October 1908       1,000.00 5,000.00 16,000.00 5,000.00 15,000.00 42,000.00
24 April 1909       500.00 4,000.00 16,000.00 5,000.00 15,000.00 40,500.00
6 September 1909       1,000.00 1,000.00 4,000.00 5,000.00 5,000.00 16,000.00
24 February 1910         1,000.00 2,000.00     3,000.00
31 August 1910       100.00 1,000.00 2,000.00   10,000.00 13,100.00
31 December 1910         1,000.00   5,000.00   6,000.00
22 February 1911           5,780.00 9,350.00 9,100.00 24,230.00
29 July 1911   0.50       380.00   2,300.00 2,680.50
                   
Balance as at 15 April 1912CEHM, Fondo Creel, 85, 21975. Note error in $100 column 1,775.75 1,402.00 7.00 10.00 100.00 8,600.00 1,150.00 12,300.00 25,344.75
                   
28 April 1913           2,000.00     2,000.00
19 June 1913           280.00 800.00   1,080.00
                   
Balance as at
November 1913ST papers, Part I, box 84, account as of 25 November 1913 produced for Silvestre Terrazas by S. Goyenche, after studying what books he had of the Banco Minero, 23 November 1914
1,775.75 1,402.00 7.00 10.00 100.00 6,320.00 350.00 10,000.00 19,964.75
                   
24 March 1920       10.00 100.00 1,080.00 350.00 1,800.00 3,340.00
30 March 1920     5.00           5.00
7 October 1926     2.00           2.00
11 October 1926               300.00 300.00
20 May 1927           200.00     200.00
                   
Balance as at
20 March 1929
1,775.75 1,402.00       5,040.00   7,900.00 16,117.75
                   
Number of notes as at
20 March 1929
7,103 2,804       252   79 10,238

 

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 incineratedCEHM, Fondo Creel, 251, 64310. 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) CEHM, Fondo Creel, 252, 64599, letter Enrique C. Creel, Los Angeles to Juan A. Creel, El Paso, 19 January 1920. Juan agreedCEHM, Fondo Creel, 251, 64335.

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 securityEl Revolucionario, 17 March 1931. Does this suggest that someone still had a substantial amount in these notes?