Catalog
20 Pesos 'B' Foreign Exchange Certificates
| Issuer | Banco Nacional de Cuba |
|---|---|
| Year | 1985 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Cuban Peso (moneda nacional, 1914-date) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| 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 | The Banco Nacional de Cuba logo is positioned at the left, with the face value rendered as spelled-out text over a large numeral at centre. A large letter 'B' within a circle appears at right, serving as the series identifier for this Foreign Exchange Certificate. Serial number prefixes appear at upper left and lower right, with the issuer name inscribed below the central value panel. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | No watermark |
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| Comments |
Cuba's Foreign Exchange Certificate system was designed to create a hard-currency parallel economy without formally acknowledging the peso's inconvertibility. The 'B' series — this note among them — was restricted to Cubans, as opposed to the 'A' series issued to foreign visitors. That distinction mattered enormously: 'B' holders could access dollar-equivalent goods at INTUR shops, but the certificates also exposed their users to official scrutiny, since possession implied access to remittances or other foreign income.
Státní Tiskárna Cenin in Prague printed for numerous socialist-bloc states throughout this period, and their work on Cuban paper is generally identifiable by its characteristic intaglio registration.