Catalog
10 Bolívares
| Issuer | Banco Caracas |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914-1916 |
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| Reference(s) | P#146 |
| Obverse description | Brown and pink note with a central vignette of the Banco Caracas building facade, rendered in intaglio with fine architectural detail. The large numeral '10' appears in guilloche underprint to the left and right of the central vignette, with the bank title 'BANCO CARACAS' and subtitle 'COMPAÑIA ANONIMA' arched across the top. Serial number and series letter appear in the upper corners, with the payable inscription and denomination 'DIEZ BOLIVARES' in a panel at the foot of the central design. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | BANCO CARACAS COMPANIA ANONIMA DIEZ 10 BOLIVARES CAPITAL $6.000.000 AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY, NEW YORK |
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| Comments |
Banco Caracas was a private commercial bank operating in Venezuela during a period when the government had not yet consolidated note-issuing authority into a single central bank — that wouldn't happen until the Banco Central de Venezuela was established in 1940. Multiple private banks issued their own circulating notes simultaneously, making the monetary environment fragmented and competitive. The ABNC plates for this series are notably crisp in execution, reflecting the company's standard high-security engraving practices of the period.
The 1914 start date places this issue squarely within the later Gómez years, when foreign debt was being aggressively paid down using oil revenues — a fiscal climate that gave private bank notes a degree of credibility they had previously lacked.