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5 Bolivianos
| Issuer | Banco Central de Bolivia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1945-1952 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | EL BANCO CENTRAL DE BOLIVIA PAGARÁ AL PORTADOR A LA VISTA 5 CINCO BOLIVIANOS La Paz, Ley de 20 de Diciembre de 1945 CONTADOR SUPERINTENDENTE DE BANCOS GERENTE GENERAL LIBERTADOR SIMÓN BOLÍVAR (Translation: The Central Bank of Bolivia will pay to the bearer at sight 5 Five Bolivianos. La Paz, Law of 20 December 1945.) |
| Reverse description | The entire reverse is executed in intaglio in olive-brown tones, centred on a large oval vignette enclosing the Bolivian national coat of arms — an Andean condor with spread wings above a shield bearing the Cerro Rico of Potosí, a llama, a breadfruit tree, and sheaves of wheat, surrounded by a ring of nine stars and flanked by crossed cannon and rifles with Bolivian flags. Elaborate acanthus scroll work frames the central vignette, while the denomination numeral 5 appears in guilloché cartouches at left and right. The bank title BANCO CENTRAL DE BOLIVIA is lettered across the top and CINCO BOLIVIANOS along the bottom, all within a finely engraved lathe-work border. |
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| Comments |
The proliferation of overprint varieties here reflects Bolivia's postwar monetary management rather than any single printing decision. The base notes were produced by De La Rue without an emission date, leaving the Banco Central to apply "EMISIÓN 1951" or "EMISIÓN 1952" stamps at the time of release — a practice that generated at least seven distinguishable signature and overprint combinations across the series. The positioning of the overprint relative to the numeral shifted repeatedly, whether by design or simple inconsistency at the stamping stage is not definitively recorded.
Bolivia's currency was under sustained pressure through this period, with inflation accelerating sharply toward the crisis that would eventually necessitate the 1963 monetary reform. These notes circulated heavily.