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2 Bolívares
| Issuer | Leproserías Nacionales - Ministerio de Sanidad y Asistencia Social |
|---|---|
| Year | 1940 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | MINISTERIO DE SANIDAD Y ASISTENCIA SOCIAL LEPROSERÍAS NACIONALES 2 BOLÍVARES DOS BOLÍVARES SER. C PARA CIRCULAR ÚNICAMENTE EN LAS LEPROSERÍAS |
| Reverse description | The reverse mirrors the obverse layout closely, printed in the same violet-purple tone, with MINISTERIO DE SANIDAD Y ASISTENCIA SOCIAL across the top and LEPROSERÍAS NACIONALES in bold below. The central tropical landscape vignette is repeated, flanked by numeral 2 guilloche panels, and the denomination DOS BOLÍVARES and restriction legend PARA CIRCULAR ÚNICAMENTE EN LAS LEPROSERÍAS appear in the lower field. The overall design is typographically plain, consistent with emergency or restricted-circulation leprosarium scrip. |
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| Comments |
Venezuela operated a network of leprosaria — enforced isolation colonies for people diagnosed with leprosy — well into the mid-twentieth century. Patients confined to these facilities were prohibited from handling ordinary currency on the grounds of contagion, so the Ministerio de Sanidad y Asistencia Social issued a parallel scrip currency valid only within colony grounds. This was not a fringe policy: the Venezuelan state maintained it with bureaucratic seriousness, complete with denominated notes across multiple values.
The practical result is one of the more unusual issuing authorities in Latin American notaphily. Survivors of the leprosy colony scrip series are genuinely scarce — the colonies were closed populations, and most circulating stock was destroyed or simply lost within the facilities themselves.