Peru P128 or P129 10 Intis 1985-1987 UNC—Beggar Librarian—Andes—Cotton—Corn

A relic of Peru's turbulent Inti era, this note captures the nation's literary pride and agricultural soul in a single palm-sized rectangle — printed by two of the world's most storied security printers.

Front

• Colors:
  • Violet/purple engraving on portrait and coat of arms; pink and salmon background with geometric guilloché; red serial numbers and date; light blue right border panel
• Portrait: Ricardo Palma, right side
• Center: Peruvian coat of arms
• Issuer name: BANCO CENTRAL DE RESERVA DEL PERU across top in purple on blue banner
• Denomination: "10" lower left (red) and right border; "DIEZ INTIS" below arms
• Signatures: Varies by date — see Other Characteristics below

Back

• Colors:
  • Teal/dark green engraving; light green and mint background; lavender/purple right panel with geometric pattern; gold-yellow accents
• Left: Farmer in traditional Andean clothing, hoeing a field
• Center: Woman kneeling, harvesting cotton in a plantation field
• Issuer name: BANCO CENTRAL DE RESERVA DEL PERU, top center
• Denomination: "10" top left and lower right; "DIEZ INTIS" lower center
• Printer imprint: THOMAS DE LA RUE AND COMPANY LIMITED, lower left (P-128 only)

Other Characteristics

• Varieties: You may receive any variety:
  • P-128a / TBB B466a — 1985-Apr-03, De La Rue; Sigs: Alberto Conroy Mena (Dir.), Richard Charles Webb Duarte (Pres.), Héctor Neyra Chavarry (Gen. Mgr.)
  • P-128a / TBB B466b — 1986-Jan-17, De La Rue; Sigs: Luis F. Rodríguez Vildósola (Dir.), Leonel Figueroa Ramírez (Pres.), Héctor Neyra Chavarry (Gen. Mgr.)
  • P-129a / TBB B467a — 1987-Jun-26, Istituto Poligrafico; Sigs: Juan Candela Gómez de la Torre (Dir.), Carlos Capuñay Mimbela (Pres.), César Farrari Quiñe (Gen. Mgr.)
• Catalog numbers: P-128 / P-129; TBB B466 / B467; Numista N#202812
• Watermark: Ricardo Palma
• Composition: Paper
• Size: 150 × 75 mm
• Issuing entity: Central Reserve Bank of Peru (Banco Central de Reserva del Perú)
• Printers: De La Rue (P-128) · Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Rome (P-129)
• Demonetized: 1 July 1991
• Currency: Inti (1985–1991)

The Librarian Who Rewrote Peru

Ricardo Palma (1833–1919) was born in Lima and became the most beloved prose writer in Peruvian history. His masterwork, Tradiciones peruanas, is a sprawling collection of short historical sketches blending fact, legend, and biting wit — a genre he essentially invented. After the War of the Pacific (1879–1884), Chilean forces sacked Lima and burned the National Library. Palma, appointed director, spent decades rebuilding it book by book, earning the nickname “el Bibliotecario Mendigo” (the Beggar Librarian) for his relentless letter-writing campaign to donors worldwide. He rebuilt the collection from roughly 738 volumes to over 50,000.

Cotton, Corn, and the Andean Woman

The reverse celebrates Peru’s agricultural backbone. The cotton plantation scene references Peru’s role as one of South America’s leading cotton exporters — Pima cotton from the northern coast is among the finest in the world. The traditionally dressed farmer and the woman harvesting cotton represent the mestizo and indigenous communities whose labor sustained the coastal and highland economies alike during the Inti period.

The Inti’s Brief, Chaotic Life

The Inti replaced the sol at a rate of 1,000 soles = 1 inti in 1985 — itself a sign of the inflation already ravaging Peru. By 1990, hyperinflation had reached 7,649% annually. The Inti was replaced by the nuevo sol in 1991 at 1,000,000 intis = 1 nuevo sol. This 10-inti note, worth roughly a U.S. penny at demonetization, is now a vivid artifact of one of Latin America’s most dramatic economic collapses.

About Peru

• Origin of name: Likely derived from Birú, the name of a local ruler or river encountered by Spanish explorers in the early 16th century; the name was gradually applied to the entire region
• Capital: Lima (city pop. ~10 million; metro pop. ~11 million)
  • Origin of name of Lima: From Limaq, a Quechua word meaning “talker” or “speaker,” referring to an oracle at the site
• Population: ~34 million (UN 2024) — comparable to California
• Area: 1,285,216 km² (496,225 mi²) — comparable to Alaska or France + Spain + Germany
• GDP per capita (PPP): ~$16,000 (IMF 2024)
• Main exports: Copper, gold, zinc, fishmeal, coffee, asparagus, textiles
• Borders: Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile; Pacific Ocean to the west
• Official/spoken languages: Spanish (official); Quechua and Aymara (co-official); dozens of Amazonian languages
• Ethnicities: Mestizo (~60%); Amerindian (~26%); White Peruvian (~6%); Afro-Peruvian and other (~8%)
• Memberships: UN (founding member, 1945); OAS (1948); Andean Community (founding member, 1969, hosts secretariat in Lima); APEC (1998); Pacific Alliance (founding member, 2011)
• Sovereignty: Viceroyalty of Peru (1542–1821); Independence declared 28 July 1821; Republic of Peru (1821–date)

Peru Unfiltered

• Machu Picchu: The Inca citadel was “rediscovered” by Hiram Bingham in 1911 — locals had never lost it
• Hyperinflation record: Peru’s 1990 inflation of 7,649% remains one of the worst in Latin American history
• Biodiversity: Peru contains ~10% of all species on Earth and is one of only 17 megadiverse countries
• Potato origin: The potato was domesticated in Peru ~8,000 years ago — the world owes its french fries to the Andes
• Shining Path: The Maoist insurgency (1980–2000) killed an estimated 70,000 people — the bloodiest internal conflict in South American history
• Nazca Lines: Enormous geoglyphs etched into the desert, some over 2,000 years old, still not fully explained
• Pisco war: Peru and Chile have an ongoing diplomatic dispute over which country invented pisco — both claim it fiercely
• Amazon source: The Amazon River’s longest source stream, the Mantaro, originates in Peru

Own this note and hold a piece of Peru’s literary soul and economic memory — a writer who rebuilt a library from ashes, a farmer who fed a nation, and a currency that burned through history in just six years.