Catalog
4 Pesos
| Issuer | Confederación de Venezuela |
|---|---|
| Year | 1811 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Plain letterpress note on aged paper, with the heading CONFEDERACION and the legislative authority LEY DEL 27 AGOSTO 1811 across the top. Two circular typeset vignettes appear on the left — the larger bearing the circular legend ESTADOS UNIDOS DE VENEZUELA and the date 1811 around a central sunburst motif, and the smaller carrying an additional official seal — flanking the central denomination inscription QUATRO PESOS in bold letterpress. The right border carries the vertical text AÑO PRIMERO DE LA INDEPENDENCIA, while the left border reads HIPOTECADO SOBRE LAS RENTAS NACIONALES DE LA CONFEDERACION, with manuscript serial number, folio, and tomo designations handwritten in period ink. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CONFEDERACION — Ley del 27 Agosto 1811 — ESTADOS UNIDOS DE VENEZUELA — 1811 — Quatro Pesos — Hipotecado sobre las Rentas Nacionales de la Confederacion — Año primero de la Independencia |
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| Comments |
The Confederación de Venezuela — the first Venezuelan republic — declared independence in July 1811 and almost immediately faced a currency crisis. Spanish colonial coinage was scarce, hoarded, or simply absent, and the new government needed a functioning medium of exchange. This 4 Pesos note was part of an emergency paper emission authorized that same year, making it among the earliest paper money ever issued on Venezuelan soil.
The republic itself collapsed by 1812, first under internal revolt and then under royalist reconquest. Virtually no institutional infrastructure survived. Notes from this emission that escaped destruction are genuinely rare primary documents of a government that lasted less than a year.