Banknote Billet Spain 200 pesos fuertes 1837

Remarks:

Plis

The Royal Treasury Bond presented here belongs to Series A and bears the issue number 874. It is a debt instrument issued by the Spanish Treasury in 1837, a period of particular political and financial instability in Spain, marked by the Carlist Wars and the Crown's budgetary difficulties.

Its face value is 200 pesos fuertes, equivalent to 20 reales vellón, two monetary units then in simultaneous circulation in Spain and its territories. The peso fuerte constituted a strong unit of account, while the real vellón represented a divisional currency of lesser metallic value. The coexistence of these two reference systems on a single document reflects the complexity of the Spanish monetary system of the time.

This type of document, designated as a Royal Treasury Bond, is akin to a short-term public debt instrument, issued by the Spanish State to meet its urgent financing needs. These bonds circulated among State creditors, merchants and financial institutions, and could be used as a means of payment or presented for redemption at the Treasury.

From a conservation and identification standpoint, the serial number 874 makes it possible to precisely identify this specimen within Series A of the 1837 issue. This type of document is today sought after by collectors specialising in notaphily ? the discipline devoted to the study and collection of banknotes and paper money ? as well as by historians interested in Spanish public finances of the 19^th century.