400 Bolívares

The Banco de Maracaibo was one of the few regional Venezuelan banks to survive into the twentieth century with note-issuing privileges intact, operating out of Zulia state under concessions that the central government repeatedly threatened but never fully revoked before the bank's eventual absorption into the national system. The 400 bolívares denomination is an unusual face value — not part of the tidy progression common to most Latin American series of the period — and suggests either a specific commercial demand in the Maracaibo trading economy or a deliberate gap-filling issue tied to oil concession payments beginning to move through the region.

P#S222 is scarce in any condition. The series had limited print runs and the regional economy it served was disrupted significantly after 1917.