Catalog
20 Bolívares
| Issuer | Banco de Maracaibo |
|---|---|
| Year | 1882 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 20 Bolívares |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO DE MARACAIBO COMPAÑÍA ANÓNIMA CAPITAL 160.000 BOLÍVARES VEINTE 20 VALE VEINTE BOLÍVARES que se pagarán al portador en Maracaibo á su presentación GERENTE PRESIDENTE DE LA ASAMBLEA DELEGATARIA |
| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted, with plain cream-coloured cotton paper stock bearing only faint handling marks and two manuscript annotations in ink, consistent with typical reverse presentation for Venezuelan private bank issues of the early 1880s. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Banco de Maracaibo was a regional commercial bank operating out of Venezuela's principal oil-free export hub — in 1882, Maracaibo's economy ran on coffee and hides, not petroleum. Regional banks in Venezuela during this period issued their own currency under concession, a privilege that made notes like this effectively private obligations rather than sovereign instruments. The ABNC plate work for provincial Latin American clients in the 1880s was consistently fine, though the paper on these Maracaibo issues is known to brown and spot more readily than contemporaneous ABNC output for larger national clients.
Pick 190 is genuinely rare. The Banco de Maracaibo's note-issuing life was short, curtailed well before Venezuela's 1940 banking consolidation.