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5 Colones

Issuer Banco Central de Reserva de El Salvador
Year 1990
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Value 5 Colones (5 SVC)
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Obverse description Central vignette in intaglio engraving shows Father José Matías Delgado, accompanied by other patriots, haranguing the people before a colonial church, the scene enclosed within an ornate cartouche with scrollwork. Large numeral '5' guilloche underprints appear to the left and right of the central vignette, with denomination panels reading 'COLONES' at centre-left and centre-right. Two facsimile signatures appear at the bottom, captioned 'DIRECTOR' and 'PRESIDENTE', above the lower legend 'CINCO COLONES'.
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Protection type Watermark
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Comments

By 1990, El Salvador was deep into a civil war that had been grinding since 1979, and the Banco Central de Reserva was under real pressure to maintain a functioning money supply despite significant economic disruption. Thomas De La Rue's London operation had been printing Salvadoran notes for decades by this point, a relationship that kept production offshore and largely insulated from the domestic instability.

The P#138 is the last major type for this denomination before the series was superseded. Watermark-only security was already considered minimal by 1990 standards.