5 Quetzales Banco Central de Guatemala, 2nd. print

Guatemala's Banco Central was established in 1926 as part of a broader monetary reform pushed through with the technical assistance of Edwin Kemmerer, the American economist whose currency stabilization missions swept through Latin America in the 1920s. The quetzal itself was introduced that same year, pegged to the U.S. dollar at par — a relationship that held with remarkable rigidity for decades. This note's production span across 1934–1945 brackets the Ubico dictatorship almost exactly, a period of enforced fiscal austerity and suppressed inflation that kept the peg intact through the Depression years and the Second World War.

Waterlow & Sons held the printing contract throughout. Their security printing work for Guatemala during this period is generally well-executed, and P#16 is no exception in terms of plate quality.