Two dogs - maybe not?

Discussion in 'Paper Money' started by ColonialCoinsUK, Feb 9, 2022.

  1. ColonialCoinsUK

    ColonialCoinsUK Well-Known Member

    Tampico-combined.jpg
    I recently added a specimen Tamaulipas 20 Pesos from 1902-1914 (S431s, M522s) to my collection. As I have now discovered the state of Tamaulipas is on the east coast, bordering Texas and therefore facing the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. Tampico is located in the south east corner of the state and is not only a major port but the largest city, and also where the first branch of the bank was established by the Governor and a group of local business men and as such the back of all the notes in this series reflects the city Coat of Arms.

    Only it doesn't, well not quite!

    The boatman and the land are fine however the two animals in the foreground on the Coat of Arms are otters as Tampico apparently means 'place of the water dogs' in the Mayan derivative language called Huastec, not surprising given the ideal conditions for the species provided by the marshy coastline. However given the reference to 'water dogs' I guess the American Bank Note Company were not paying complete attention and engraved two 'dogs' instead of two otters. They may not be entirely to blame as I assume the Banco de Tamaulipas management also approved of the design although they may have thought the provided 'coat of arms' was enough description. My note is Series H which is the last series for this denomination and was only partly issued from 21st April 1914, due to yet another change of government, so I expect updating the design was not practical at this point as there was a war on!

    Anyone have any further insight?

    Front of note:-
    Tamaulipas-20P-Test-Fcrop.jpg
     
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  3. spirityoda

    spirityoda Coin Junky

    Looks like 2 dogs.
     
    dwhiz and SteveInTampa like this.
  4. SteveInTampa

    SteveInTampa Always Learning

    + 1
     
  5. tommyc03

    tommyc03 Senior Member

    Paging @dwhiz for the train.
     
    dwhiz likes this.
  6. SensibleSal66

    SensibleSal66 U.S Casual Collector / Error Collector

    Boy. I thought they were giving away Free Hotdogs! Ughhhh!:(
     
    CoinJockey73 likes this.
  7. scottishmoney

    scottishmoney Buh bye

    It is an "American 4-4-0" a very commonly used locomotive up until the 1880s in the USA and later in Mexico and incredibly some are still used for yard shunting in Cuba. As traffic increased after the Civil War larger and more powerful locomotives were needed with more tractive effort meaning larger wheel "bogey" arrangements to pull larger trains. Mexican railways largely could get by using the 4-4-0 wheel arrangement unless it was pulled over mountains etc like the Topolobampo Cubre Canyon railroad that needed more tractive pull.
     
  8. scottishmoney

    scottishmoney Buh bye

    The canine on the right resembles a retriever - a water dog, but the one on the left resembles a shepherd - not a water dog.
     
  9. scottishmoney

    scottishmoney Buh bye

  10. dwhiz

    dwhiz Collector Supporter

  11. ToughCOINS

    ToughCOINS Dealer Member Moderator

    "Two dogs - maybe not?"

    I don't think @Two Dogs was around when that note was printed . . .
     
  12. ColonialCoinsUK

    ColonialCoinsUK Well-Known Member

    Really interesting - there seems to be plenty of notes from the period/region with trains but this is my only one so far!
     
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