Catalog
20 Quetzales
| Issuer | Banco de Guatemala |
|---|---|
| Year | 1992 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 20 Quetzales (20 GTQ) |
| 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 | Portrait of Doctor Mariano Galvez, Procer de la Independencia and Estado de Guatemala en la Federacion Centroamericana, rendered in intaglio at right, with a resplendent quetzal bird in flight at upper left above a pre-Columbian Mayan stone relief vignette. The denomination 20 is printed in large numerals at center-left against a blue and purple guilloche underprint, with the bank title BANCO DE GUATEMALA and GUATEMALA, CENTRO AMERICA inscribed across the top. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO DE GUATEMALA GUATEMALA, CENTRO AMERICA VEINTE QUETZALES 20 DOCTOR MARIANO GALVEZ PROCER DE LA INDEPENDENCIA ESTADO DE GUATEMALA EN LA FEDERACION CENTROAMERICANA AUTORIZACION Presidente Gerente Contralor de Cuentas |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| 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 Guatemala's 1992 series was produced by BA International Inc. in Ottawa — the successor identity to the British American Bank Note Company, which had rebranded following a period of financial difficulty in the late 1980s. Guatemala had been a BABN client for decades, and the relationship continued through the transition despite the corporate turbulence in Canada.
By 1992, Guatemala's economy was still recovering from years of civil conflict and the hyperinflationary pressures of the mid-1980s, when the quetzal's peg to the US dollar had collapsed entirely. The 20-quetzal denomination sat at a meaningful middle value in daily transactions during the early liberalization period under President Serrano Elías.