Catalog
5 Colones
| Issuer | Banco Central de Reserva de El Salvador |
|---|---|
| Year | 1999 |
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| Printer | Thomas De La Rue & Company, London, United Kingdom |
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| Obverse description | Intaglio vignette of the National Palace at right centre against a multicolour guilloche underprint, with the national coat of arms at centre-left. Serial number appears twice in red at upper left and lower right. The date '19 DE ABRIL DE 1999' and place name 'SAN SALVADOR' are printed below the upper border. Two facsimile signatures appear at lower left, identified as Presidente and Director. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Intaglio portrait of Christopher Columbus at left, rendered in dark tones against a multicolour guilloche background, with a vignette of his three sailing vessels at centre-right and a stylised map of the Atlantic Ocean in the upper centre field. The numeral '5' appears in the upper left and lower right corners. |
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| Comments |
By 1999, El Salvador's colón was living on borrowed time. Dollarization was already being debated seriously in government circles, and the Monetary Integration Law passed in late 2000 would fix the colón permanently at 8.75 to the dollar, with USD notes taking over entirely by 2001. This issue was among the last printed before that transition made the denomination obsolete.
Thomas De La Rue produced the series, as they had for El Salvador through much of the late twentieth century. The P#153 run represents one of the final colón printings the country ever ordered.