Catalog
20 Bolívares
| Issuer | Banco de Maracaibo |
|---|---|
| Year | 1889 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO DE MARACAIBO COMPAÑIA ANÓNIMA CAPITAL 800.000 BOLÍVARES VEINTE BOLÍVARES VALE que se pagarán al portador en Maracaibo á su presentación GERENTE PRESIDENTE DE LA ASAMBLEA DELEGATARIA 20 |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in reddish-brown intaglio, the reverse is composed of elaborate lathe-work guilloche rosettes and interlocking geometric ornamental borders. Three large medallion panels are arranged horizontally across the note, each enclosing the denomination numeral 20 within dense spirograph-style guilloche work, surrounded by repeating Greek-key friezes and floral corner ornaments. The printer's imprint of the American Bank Note Company, New York appears at the lower centre. |
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| Comments |
The Banco de Maracaibo was a regional bank operating under Venezuela's free banking period, when multiple state-chartered institutions held the legal authority to issue their own currency. That arrangement ended with the rise of centralized banking in the early twentieth century, making notes from this issuer relics of a short-lived pluralist monetary order. The American Bank Note Company's New York workshops produced paper for dozens of Latin American clients simultaneously during this decade, and the quality of engraving was frequently a selling point used to deter forgery in markets where institutional trust was fragile.
Pick 200 is scarce in any condition — Maracaibo-issued paper had limited geographic reach and never circulated widely outside northwestern Venezuela.