Catalog
5 Pesos 'C' Foreign Exchange Certificate-Round 'C'
| Issuer | Banco Nacional de Cuba |
|---|---|
| Year | 1985 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Státní Tiskárna Cenin, Prague, Czech Republic (1953-date) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CERTIFICADO DE COMPRA BANCO NACIONAL DE CUBA CINCO PESOS FE |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in teal blue on a plain white ground with a faint concentric-ring guilloche underprint at centre. The denomination numeral '5' appears in each corner, and the central text CINCO PESOS is set in large display type overlying the guilloche. Above centre, a ruled line is headed FIRMA DEL TENEDOR / EN PRESENCIA DEL PAGADOR, while two further ruled lines at lower centre are captioned FECHA DE EMISION and FIRMA DEL TENEDOR respectively. A notice at foot reads CADUCA A LOS CINCO AÑOS DE EMITIDO, indicating the certificate's five-year validity period. |
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| Comments |
Cuba's Foreign Exchange Certificates were a parallel currency system designed to capture hard currency from tourists and diplomats while keeping it out of ordinary circulation. The "C" series — distinguished by an overprinted or incorporated round "C" device — circulated alongside, but strictly separately from, the peso convertible system that came later. Tourists were legally required to exchange foreign currency into these certificates; spending pesos alongside Cubans in the same peso economy was not the point.
Státní Tiskárna Cenin in Prague printed Cuban currency throughout much of the Cold War period, a natural arrangement given the bilateral trade agreements between Cuba and Czechoslovakia after 1960.