BANCO CENTRAL DEL URUGUAY, 100 PESOS URUGUAYOS, 2011

OBVERSE: This beautifully rendered Central Bank of Uruguay (Banco Central del Uruguay) $100 pesos uruguayos is dedicated to Eduardo Fabini (1882–1950). Fabini is celebrated by Uruguay as a composer and a musician, writing music that merged classical with traditional Uruguayan folk songs. His thoughtful portrait is featured to the right of center. To his upper right is a hologram, visible from several angles yet blank when viewed from the front. To his left are the signatures of the bank’s secretary general, and President Mario Bergara, who served from 2008 to 2013. Beneath the signatures is an interesting vignette of a piece of sheet music with a single lyric “energico,” a lyre and a trumpet, framed by a laurel wreath. To the left is Uruguay’s coat of arms and a watermark portrait of Fabini.

REVERSE: A nude, young shepherd is seated, playing the pan pipes to his flock in the distance. On a tree limb above, a blackbird sings along. Below the young man’s right forearm is the name “PRATI,” a reference to the prolific Italian poet, Giovanni Prati (1815‒1884), who inspired this “ALEGORIA MUSICAL” pastoral theme. To the right center is the mirror image of the vignette on the obverse, except without the lyric, and to the far right is the watermark reverse.

At the bottom right, in really, really small print, is “DE LA RUE.” De La Rue plc is a British company headquartered in Basingstoke, England, that manufactures paper and security printed products including banknotes, passports, and tax stamps.