Catalog
100 Bolívares
| Issuer | Banco de Venezuela |
|---|---|
| Year | 1897 |
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| Reference(s) | P#273 |
| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in black and orange on white paper, with a central guilloche medallion bearing the numeral '100' in large intaglio figures. Two allegorical female figures in classical robes flank the central vignette, each seated against elaborate scrollwork borders. The upper arc carries the issuing bank's name 'BANCO DE VENEZUELA SOCIEDAD ANÓNOMA', while the lower legend reads 'CIEN BOLÍVARES', with the place of issue 'CARACAS' noted at left and promise-to-pay text across the lower register. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is uniformly printed in orange-red and displays the Venezuelan national coat of arms as the central vignette, surrounded by intricate engine-turned guilloche lacework. The denomination numeral '100' appears in large counters to the left and right of the central device. 'BANCO DE VENEZUELA' arcs across the top and 'VENEZUELA' is lettered across the bottom, with the printer's imprint of the American Bank Note Company along the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
Banco de Venezuela was a private commercial bank operating under government concession — not a central bank. Its authority to issue notes derived from a charter renewed periodically, and by 1897 that arrangement was already politically contested. The Cipriano Castro revolution of 1899 would upend the entire Venezuelan banking structure within years of this note's issue.
American Bank Note Company printed extensively for Latin American private banks throughout the 1890s, and their Venezuelan work for this period is among the more carefully engraved of the regional commissions. P#273 is genuinely scarce at any grade — private bank issues from pre-Castro Venezuela rarely survived the monetary reorganizations that followed.