20 Córdobas

Nicaragua's monetary system was in freefall by 1990. The Córdoba had been destroyed by hyperinflation under the Sandinista government — the cumulative rate for 1988 alone exceeded 33,000% — and this note was part of the desperately short-lived "new Córdoba" series introduced at a revaluation of 1,000 old Córdobas to one new. The revaluation bought almost no time. Within two years the series was itself obsolete, replaced again by the gold Córdoba in 1991.

The Canadian Bank Note Company's Ottawa production run for this series was rendered effectively worthless before many notes had seen meaningful use, which makes circulated survivors more historically honest than uncirculated ones.