Catalog
10 Bolívares
| Issuer | Banco Comercial (later Banco Comercial de Maracaibo) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed in dark green intaglio on plain paper, the reverse is dominated by an ornate guilloche frame enclosing a central oval vignette with an engraved pastoral scene of a llanero on horseback herding cattle across an open plain. The bank name 'BANCO COMERCIAL' appears at the top within the border, with 'COMPAÑIA ANONIMA' inscribed along the lower margin; large numeral '10' counters are positioned at the left and right within the decorative surround. The imprint 'AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY' is printed at the bottom center beneath the main border. |
| Reverse lettering | BANCO COMERCIAL COMPAÑIA ANONIMA AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY |
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| Comments |
The Banco Comercial was one of several regional Venezuelan banks operating under the 1880 banking law, which permitted note-issuing privileges to chartered commercial banks well into the twentieth century — an unusually long survival of decentralized emission by Latin American standards. Maracaibo's commercial banking sector was closely tied to the Lake Maracaibo trade routes, and notes from this institution circulated heavily among merchants rather than through formal banking channels.
ABNC produced the plates in New York under their standard contract arrangement with smaller Latin American issuers. The bank's name change to Banco Comercial de Maracaibo occurred after this series was already in circulation.