100 Bolívares Simón Bolivar's Death

Issued to mark the 150th anniversary of Simón Bolívar's death on December 17, 1830, this commemorative was struck at a moment of unusual fiscal confidence for Venezuela — oil revenues were still riding the boom years of the 1970s before the debt crisis of 1983 shattered the bolívar's purchasing power entirely. Within three years of this coin's minting, the currency it denominated had lost roughly two-thirds of its value against the dollar.