Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 Colones
| Issuer | Banco Occidental |
|---|---|
| Year | 1926 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Colones |
| 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 | Dark blue intaglio print on a light underprint with intricate guilloche border and corner numeral "5" devices. A central allegorical vignette occupies the right portion of the note, rendered in fine line engraving. The bank title "BANCO OCCIDENTAL" is set in bold letterpress across the top, with the date "SAN SALVADOR 1° de NOVIEMBRE de 1926" along the lower register above three manuscript signature lines and the denomination spelled out "CINCO COLONES" at the foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Green intaglio print with an elaborate guilloche framework and repeating floral border ornaments. A central oval vignette contains a portrait, surrounded by the issuing bank's name and the word "RAZON" in an arc above. Corner numeral "5" devices are set within decorative cartouches at each angle. |
| 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 |
Banco Occidental was one of several Guatemalan private commercial banks authorised to issue currency before the country's 1926 monetary reform, which transferred exclusive note-issuing rights to the newly established Banco Central de Guatemala. This 5 Colones note sits at precisely that fault line — issued in the same year the private banking monopoly on currency was abolished.
ABNC produced the plates in New York, as they did for most Central American private bank issues of the period. The Colón had itself only recently replaced the Peso as Guatemala's monetary unit, so this note represents a very brief window: a new denomination, an old issuing structure, and a reform already in motion.