1 Quetzal Banco de Guatemala, Provisional issue

Guatemala's postwar monetary reorganization brought the Banco de Guatemala into existence in 1946, replacing the Banco Central de Guatemala as the sole issuer of currency. This note belongs to the provisional series released during that transition — existing plates and stocks were overprinted or adapted rather than entirely new designs commissioned, which was typical Waterlow practice when a client state needed paper in circulation before permanent issues could be prepared.

Waterlow & Sons handled Guatemala's banknote printing throughout much of the mid-twentieth century, and the relationship was a long one. The firm's collapse into the British security printing industry by 1961 ended that arrangement permanently.