Catalog
100 Colones
| Issuer | Banco Central de Reserva de El Salvador |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942-1954 |
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| Printer | American Bank Note Company, United States |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette shows the Monumento a la Independencia (Independence Monument) in intaglio engraving, set within an ornate scrollwork frame flanked by two large guilloche rosettes bearing the numeral 100. The bank title arcs diagonally across the upper portion of the note, with the denomination in large letterpress numerals at left and right and in words along the lower centre. Three manuscript signatures appear at the bottom, identified as Director, Presidente, and Cajero, with the date and place of issue printed to the lower left and right respectively. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO CENTRAL DE RESERVA DE EL SALVADOR PAGARÁ AL PORTADOR 100 CIEN COLONES 100 DE ACUERDO CON EL ARTÍCULO 39 DE SU LEY CONSTITUTIVA SAN SALVADOR SERIE C DIRECTOR PRESIDENTE CAJERO (Translation: Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador - Will Pay to Bearer - One Hundred Colones - In Accordance with Article 39 of its Constitutive Law - San Salvador - Series C - Director - President - Cashier) |
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| Comments |
The Banco Central de Reserva de El Salvador was established in 1934 under a reform pushed heavily by U.S. financial advisors — part of a broader Depression-era reorganization of Central American monetary systems. ABNC held the printing contract through most of the institution's early decades, and this high-denomination 100 Colones note from the 1942–1954 window would have circulated almost exclusively in commercial and interbank transactions. Ordinary wages in El Salvador at the time rarely approached even a fraction of its face value.
The twelve-year date span reflects reissues with incremental changes — serial prefix blocks and signature combinations are the primary tools for narrowing individual examples to specific years within the series.