100 Pesos 1959, Cuba
| in Krause book | Number: 93a |
| Years of issue: | 1959 |
| Edition: | -- |
| Signatures: | Presidente del Banco: Felipe Pazos Roque, Ministro de Hazienda: Rufo Lopez Fresquet |
| Serie: | No Serie |
| Specimen of: | 1959 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 157 х 66 |
| Printer: | American Bank Note Company, New-York |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Avers:
Text throughout the field of banknote: "Banco Nacional de Cuba".
The engraving on banknote is made after this photo of Francisco Aguilera.
Francisco Vicente Aguilera was a Cuban patriot born in Bayamo, Cuba on June 23, 1821. He had ten children with his wife Ana Manuela Maria Dolores Sebastiana Kindelan y Sanchez. He studied at the University of Havana receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Aguilera had inherited a fortune from his father, and in 1867 he was the richest landowner in the eastern region of Cuba, owning extensive properties, sugar refineries, livestock, and slaves. He never bought any of the slaves that were regularly brought from the African coast and offered for sale. He only used the slaves he had inherited from his father. This required him to hire many free workers to plant and harvest the sugarcane and work the farms. He was mayor of Bayamo, and he was a freemason and the head of the Masonic lodge in Bayamo.
He traveled to many countries including the U.S., France, England, and Italy. On his travels he came into contact with governments that had chiefs of state who were not monarchs, leading him to embrace the progressive ideas to which he was exposed. He became an idealist who was always preoccupied with improving the conditions of his countrymen.
Upon the outbreak of war in 1868, Aguilera freed all 500 of his slaves, an illegal action under the Spanish law in effect in Cuba at that time, and joined ranks with many of them to retake the city of Bayamo from the Spanish. Many of his ex-slaves became soldiers and officers in the War of Independence, but it is unclear whether or not his freed slaves volunteered for their enrollment in the military. It could be that their freedom was contingent upon Cuba winning the war.
In 1871, Francisco Vicente Aguilera went to New York City to raise funds for the war effort. He had given everything away for the cause of Cuban independence. Aguilera died completely destitute after a brief bout with throat cancer in his apartment at 223 West 30th Street in New York on February 22, 1877.
The Cuban Republic, finally free after so many years and casualties, honored Aguilera as hero.
On right and left sides are acanthus leaves as decorations.
On the left side is the red seal of Cuban National Bank.
Denominations in numerals and in words are on all sides of the banknote.
Revers:
The coat of arms in center.
The Cuban Coat of Arms is the official heraldic symbol of Cuba. It consists of a shield, in front of a Fasces crowned by the Phrygian Cap, all supported by an oak branch on one side and a laurel wreath on the other. The coat of arms was created by Miguel Teurbe Tolón and was adopted on April 24, 1906.
The shield is divided into three parts:
In the chief, a key charging a blue sea between two rocks, symbolizing Cuba’s geographical position between Florida and the Yucatán Peninsula. A bright rising sun in the background symbolizes the rising of the new republic. A key is a symbol of Cuba as Cuba is the key to the Americas. On the left are the stripes of the flag of Cuba but turned so as they are bendwise. On the right is a common Cuban landscape, Royal Palm tree, a symbol of Cuba with mountains in the background.
The shield is supported by an oak branch on one side and a laurel wreath on the other. The oak branch symbolizes the strength of the nation; and the laurel wreath: honor and glory. These symbols were meant to represent the rights of man: Equality, Liberty and Fraternity.
A Phrygian Cap (Gorro Frigio) or liberty cap is located at the top, as a crown symbolizing liberty, with a sole star on it standing for independence.
Denominations are on left and right sides.
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