Catalog
5 Venezolanos
| Issuer | Compañía de Crédito |
|---|---|
| Year | 1873 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is set within an ornate guilloche border with repeated denomination numerals along the upper and lower margins. At center, the Venezuelan coat of arms serves as the primary vignette, flanked by two oval medallions each bearing the numeral '5' within intricate lathe-work surrounds, with additional corner medallions repeating the denomination. The issuer's name 'COMPAÑÍA DE CRÉDITO' is inscribed in bold letterpress across the upper register, with the place of issue 'Caracas' at upper left and signature lines for 'Por la Dirección' and 'El Administrador' at lower center. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | COMPAÑÍA DE CRÉDITO Caracas CINCO Vale ___ por CINCO VENEZOLANOS que se pagarán al portador en Caracas a la presentación Por la Dirección El Administrador de 18 |
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| Comments |
The Compañía de Crédito was one of several private Venezuelan banks authorized to issue notes during the brief liberal banking experiment of the early 1870s under Guzmán Blanco. The arrangement gave commercial houses quasi-banking privileges while the state avoided the burden of establishing a formal national bank — a compromise that lasted only a few years before tighter concession controls were imposed.
ABNC's involvement here is routine for the period; New York was the default source for quality intaglio work across Latin America at the time. The "Venezolanos" denomination — rather than pesos or reales — reflects Venezuela's own currency nomenclature of the era, before the bolívar was formally adopted in 1879.