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Central Republican Board of Cuba and Puerto Rico · New York

1 Peso · Central Republican Board · 1869

Circulating one-peso note of the Central Republican Board of Cuba and Puerto Rico, printed in New York on 17 August 1869. No. 13085, series B — revolutionary currency convertible into Republic of Cuba bonds.

Catalog facts

Pick reference
P#61
Serial number
N.º 13085 · serie B
Signatures
José Morales Lemus (Board President); J. M. Bassora (Secretary); the Treasurer (autograph signature)
Condition
Unslabbed; toning, stains, and edge wear (private collection)
Printage
Printed in New York, 17 August 1869. Circulating note of the Central Republican Board of Cuba and Puerto Rico (Pick 61–64: 1, 5, 10, and 20 pesos). Convertible into Republic of Cuba bonds upon presentation at the Board Treasury in amounts of at least one hundred pesos. This record does not invent a printage for the type or for No. 13085.

Face

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Face of the P#61 1-peso note: Central Republican Board, No. 13085 series B, New York 17 August 1869; medallions with 1 and signatures of Morales Lemus, Bassora, and the Treasurer.

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Face of the P#61 1-peso note: Central Republican Board, No. 13085 series B, New York 17 August 1869; medallions with 1 and signatures of Morales Lemus, Bassora, and the Treasurer.
Face of the P#61 1-peso note: Central Republican Board, No. 13085 series B, New York 17 August 1869; medallions with 1 and signatures of Morales Lemus, Bassora, and the Treasurer.

Back

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Back with show-through from the face through thin paper; bleed-through may show a different number (e.g. 13082). This piece’s identifier is red No. 13085 on the face.

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Back with show-through from the face through thin paper; bleed-through may show a different number (e.g. 13082). This piece’s identifier is red No. 13085 on the face.
Back with show-through from the face through thin paper; bleed-through may show a different number (e.g. 13082). This piece’s identifier is red No. 13085 on the face.

The note

On 17 August 1869 the Central Republican Board of Cuba and Puerto Rico — political, diplomatic, and financial headquarters of the insurgency from New York, chaired by José Morales Lemus with secretary Dr. José Francisco Basora — issued this series of circulating notes (Pick 61–64: 1, 5, 10, and 20 pesos) as revolutionary currency during the Ten Years’ War. Unlike the provisional contribution receipt of June — a fundraising instrument for variable amounts — this one-peso note is fixed-denomination bearer paper, recognized by the Board as debt convertible into Republic of Cuba bonds “upon presentation at the Treasury of the Board, in amounts of at least one hundred pesos.” The face heads LA REPÚBLICA DE CUBA POR MEDIO DE LA Central Republican Board of Cuba and Puerto Rico, centers UN PESO in decorative type, carries red No. 13085, series letter B at upper right, and the date New York, August 17, 1869. Circular medallions with the numeral 1 flank the promissory text. Signers are José Morales Lemus as Board President, J. M. Bassora as Secretary, and the Treasurer with an autograph signature. The back shows the main text in show-through from the thin paper — typical of these nineteenth-century notes printed on one side —; the face No. 13085 is this piece’s identifier. The Board thus linked Cuban and Puerto Rican anti-colonial politics in the New York exile: weeks earlier, in June 1869, Morales Lemus and Basora had been arrested under U.S. neutrality laws, yet the August issue continued the revolutionary financial strategy.

Scarcity and printage

Pick 61–64 catalogues the Board’s four circulating denominations of 17 August 1869 (1, 5, 10, and 20 pesos). Numismatic sources describe limited New York issues during the Ten Years’ War; in June 1869 Morales Lemus and Basora were arrested under U.S. neutrality laws. No. 13085 is an ordinary serial. This record does not invent a printage.

Population

An independent census for No. 13085 has not been verified. The note is shown unslabbed, with toning and wear consistent with a nineteenth-century working note.

Sources

← Colonial and transition issues