One of the goals for my collection is to put a Set together made up of a note from the Revolutionary Period for each State in Mexico - a total of 30 notes. I think this is achievable, and is proving a great way to learn about the region, and the Set is ticking along nicely. Some States had multiple Banks, for example Yucatan had El Banco Mercantil de Yucatan, El Banco Yucatecco, then El Banco Pennisular Mexicano plus a range of later private, military, state and municipal issues so there is plenty of choice for the 'banks' and denominations which could make up this Set providing some much needed flexibility.

This diversity meant that Mexico had 100's of Institutions that issued currency before centralisation of the banking system in 1923 and one note from each would probably be considered 'impossible' - is there already such a collection?

I have bought a few group lots, whilst also working on another set , which meant that I have ended up with an increasing number of notes from across Latin American which prompted a quick look at the SCWPM:Specialist Issues catalogue. This has ~50 Bancos listed for Mexico (does not include the later issues), >100 from Argentina, even more for Colombia although for Nicaragua only 4 are mentioned, and then there is the main catalogue which adds even more.

As the saying goes 'go big or go home' I decided my 'impossible' banknote set would be one example from each bank/issuing authority for the whole of Central and South America!

As an example of every catalogue number is just being silly this Set provides some sort of focus, not much but my justification anyway, as it still needs 1000's of notes.  I expect some of the earlier/local issues are probably 'impossible' in their own right and this means there will always be a gap somewhere. As a long time collector of die numbered Victorian coinage (1864-1879) and Napoleonic medals I am no stranger to 'impossible' Sets so adding a 'paper' set to my never to be completed collection seemed like a logical thing to do!

So I have started a Signature Set with just a few notes to sort out the format etc. Extra notes and information will be added over the next hundred years or so

https://notes.www.collectors-society.com/registry/notes/ViewPersonalCollection.aspx?UserCollectionID=1822&Tab=list