Catalog
40 Bolívares
| Issuer | Banco de Maracaibo |
|---|---|
| Year | 1909 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Green and black intaglio-printed note with the bank title BANCO DE MARACAIBO and COMPAÑIA ANONIMA in a central oval vignette enclosing an allegorical female figure seated beside a water urn, flanked by guilloche panels bearing the denomination numeral 40 at left and right. A standing male figure appears at the lower left, with the Venezuelan coat of arms vignette at the lower right; the word CUARENTA appears at left and BOLIVARES at right, with SPECIMEN overprints in red across the lower portion. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO DE MARACAIBO COMPAÑIA ANONIMA CUARENTA BOLIVARES B-40 40 SPECIMEN |
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| Comments |
The Banco de Maracaibo was a regional commercial bank, not a central bank, operating under concession from the Venezuelan government at a time when note-issuing rights were still distributed among several private institutions. By 1909, that arrangement was already under pressure — Caracas had been moving fitfully toward centralizing monetary authority for years, and most regional banks lost their circulation privileges within the following decade.
ABNC printed for dozens of Latin American issuers during this period, and the denomination itself — 40 bolívares — is an odd one, suggesting this may have filled a specific transactional gap in Maracaibo's commercial economy rather than fitting a tidy series progression.