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10 Pesos 1960, Cuba

in Krause book Number: 79b
Years of issue: 1960
Edition: --
Signatures: Presidente del Banco: Felipe Pazos Roque, Ministro de Hazienda: Rufo Lopez Fresquet
Serie: No Serie
Specimen of: 1949
Material: Cotton fiber
Size (mm): 157 х 66
Printer: American Bank Note Company, New-York

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10 Pesos 1960

Description

Watermark:

Avers:

10 Pesos 1960

Text throughout the field of banknote: "Banco Nacional de Cuba".

Carlos Manuel de Céspedes del CastilloThe engraving on banknote is made after this photo of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes.

Carlos Manuel de Céspedes del Castillo (April 18, 1819 - February 27, 1874) was a Cuban planter who freed his slaves and made the declaration of Cuban independence in 1868 which started the Ten Years War.

Céspedes was a landowner and lawyer in eastern Cuba, near Bayamo, who purchased La Demajagua, an estate with a sugar plantation, in 1844 after returning from Spain. On October 10, 1868, he made the "Grito de Yara" (Cry of Yara), declaring Cuban independence, which began the Ten Years War. That morning, after sounding the slave bell that indicated to his slaves it was time for work, they stood before him waiting for orders, and Céspedes announced they were all free men, and were invited to join him and his fellow conspirators in war against the Spanish government of Cuba. He is called "Padre de la Patria" (Father of the Country). In April 1869 he was chosen President of the Republic of Cuba in Arms.

The Ten Years War was the first serious attempt to achieve independence from Spain, and to free all slaves. The war was fought between two groups. In the East of Cuba the tobacco planters and farmers, joined by mulattoes and some slaves, fought against the West of Cuba, with its sugarcane plantations (which required many slaves) and the forces of the Spanish Governor-General. Hugh Thomas summarizes thus: The war was a conflict between criollos (creoles, born in Cuba) and peninsulares (recent immigrants from Spain). The Spanish forces and the peninsulares, backed by rich Spanish merchants, were at first on the defensive, but in the longer run their greater resources told.

Céspedes was deposed in 1873 in a leadership coup. Spanish troops killed him in February 1874 in a mountain refuge, as the new Cuban government would not let him go into exile and denied him an escort. The war ended in 1878 with the Pact of Zanjón. The pact did make concessions: liberation of all slaves and Chinese who had fought with the rebels, no action for political offences; but not freedom for all slaves, and no independence. The Grito de Yara had achieved something, though not enough; but it had lit a long-burning fuse. Lessons learned there were later put to good use in the Cuban War of Independence.

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:

10 Pesos 1960

The coat of arms is in center.

coat

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 in numerals and in words are on all sides of the banknote.

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