Catalog
5 Pesos
| Issuer | República de Venezuela |
|---|---|
| Year | 1860 |
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| Reference(s) | P#20 |
| Obverse description | The note is printed on aged cotton paper with a simple engraved border of fine ornamental scrollwork. The heading REPUBLICA DE VENEZUELA is centred at the top, below which the issuing decree reads Decreto del Poder Ejecutivo de 2 de Agosto de 1860. The denomination $5 appears in both upper corners, with a circular blue official seal at the centre-left, and the body text setting out the terms of the obligation in Spanish script. Three manuscript signatures appear in the lower portion, accompanied by handwritten annotations identifying the signatories by title. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | REPUBLICA DE VENEZUELA Decreto del Poder Ejecutivo de 2 de Agosto de 1860 $100.000 $5 El Secretario de Hacienda El Contador General El Tesorero Tesorero de Yaracuy |
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| Comments |
Venezuela's 1860 paper currency was issued under chronic fiscal pressure — the republic had been cycling through monetary crises since independence, and private and quasi-public banks were doing much of the heavy lifting that a functional central bank would ordinarily handle. The Banco de Venezuela did not exist yet; that institution wouldn't be chartered until 1890. Who exactly stood behind this emission at the time of issue is genuinely complicated.
Cotton-substrate notes of this period from Venezuelan issuers are rarely encountered in any condition, as circulation in the tropical interior was brutal on paper currency.