Currencies of Puerto Rico - Collection Value and Numismatic Study

Collection Value and Numismatic Study

The remaining exemplars of Puerto Rican currency have gathered significant value with the years, particularly in the United States. The value of them within the collectors of that country is due to the special nature of the post-1898 issues. Since they were issued under the same Spanish provincial charter, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing classifies them as "territorial" currency, this being the only unit of exchange of this kind that is recognized by the United States Department of the Treasury.

Objects from Puerto Rico are constantly featured in specialized magazines, in both national and international distribution. The Puerto Rican dollars that were collected by the government, were burned between January 16–24, 1925, drastically reducing the amount of surviving notes from the Bank of Puerto Rico. The Great Depression reduced their numbers further, since necessity prevented the collection of pesos in large denominations. Thus less than five exemplars are known to exist of the 100 and 200 peso banknotes issued by El Banco Español de Puerto Rico and the 5 and 10 dollars Series F bills published by the Bank of Puerto Rico.

Similarly, the other notes issued by this banks range from scarce to rare. The banknotes from the First National Bank of Porto Rico are particularly scarce, this is because the institution's issues didn't even reach quantities of 20. Only two bills from the $100 denomination have been known to survive, similarly two from the $20 issue are left, with one of them being acquired by Amon G. Carter before his death. Carter was known to exhibit the piece, but didn't make it available for sale. More than a dozen $10 banknotes survived, seldom appearing at auctions. Other extremely rare banknotes include the 2 and 4 real notes of 1813 and all of the denominations issued by the Caja de Ahorros de Ponce. In contrast, the paper money used by the Puerto Rico Railroad Company is still known to appear occasionally in the market. Outside of these, the clandestine bills issued by the Central Republican Board of Cuba and Puerto Rico, range from scarce (5-peso bill) to extremely rare (20-peso notes).

In Puerto Rico, the Sociedad Numismática de Puerto Rico (lit. "Numismatic Society of Puerto Rico") was founded in 1949. The society is usually composed of 25 to 50 members and it focuses in collecting and distributing both coins and banknotes from Puerto Rico to interested collectors. An annual exhibition along the Sociedad Filatelica de Puerto Rico (lit. "Philatelic Society of Puerto Rico") has been held in Plaza Las Américas since the commercial center's inauguration. Outside of this activity, Puerto Rican currency can be found locally in philatelic and numismatic as well as flea markets. At auctions, banknotes have been known to surpass bid that are up to 70,000 dollars. The collection of cardboard samples given by banks to numismatic merchants, has also been noted among enthusiasts.