10 Cordobas

Nicaragua's mid-1990s note series was issued as the country worked to stabilize the córdoba oro, introduced in 1991 to replace the massively inflated córdoba at a rate of 5 million to one — the consequence of a monetary collapse accelerated by the Contra war and the Sandinista government's deficit spending. By 1996, inflation had been wrestled down considerably, and this note entered circulation under the Chamorro administration during a period of genuine, if fragile, economic recovery.

Giesecke & Devrient's Leipzig facility, which had continued operations in East Germany through the Cold War, printed this series. A watermark is the sole mechanical security feature — modest by the standards of the decade, reflecting cost constraints on a small Central American economy rebuilding its monetary credibility from near zero.