Catalog
10 000 Bolívares
| Issuer | Banco Central de Venezuela |
|---|---|
| Year | 1998 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | American Bank Note Company, New York |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in red, black, and ochre, with the portrait vignette of Simón Bolívar at right, rendered after the 1821 miniature by J. Yáñez, set against a fine guilloche underprint. The issuer's legend BANCO CENTRAL DE VENEZUELA arches across the top, while the denomination in words DIEZ MIL BOLÍVARES is inscribed at lower left, and the numeral 10000 appears at upper left and lower right. The left margin is reserved as a clear watermark zone. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | BANCO CENTRAL DE VENEZUELA DIEZ MIL BOLIVARES 10000 |
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| Comments |
The plate design for this note dates to 1945 — over five decades before the 1998 issue date. American Bank Note Company produced the original intaglio work in New York, and Venezuela continued drawing on that same design architecture through multiple reissue cycles as inflation steadily eroded the denomination's purchasing power. By the late 1990s, 10,000 bolívares had become a routine transaction note rather than the high-value instrument the original design implied.
Venezuela's inflation through the 1980s and 1990s forced the Banco Central to extend the life of existing plate families well beyond any reasonable horizon. A watermark remains the sole security concession on a note circulating in an economy that had already seen the bolívar lose the vast majority of its real value.