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50 Bolívares
| Issuer | Banco Central de Venezuela |
|---|---|
| Year | 1940-1960 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 156 × 69 mm |
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| Obverse description | Black intaglio printing on white paper with an ornate frame-like guilloche border. At left, an oval vignette bearing a portrait of Simón Bolívar; at center, the large numeral '50' appears above the denomination legend 'CINCUENTA BOLÍVARES' and the payment clause 'PAGADEROS AL PORTADOR EN LAS OFICINAS DEL BANCO'; the issuer name 'BANCO CENTRAL DE VENEZUELA' runs along the top, with the numeral '50' repeated at right and in each corner. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Orange intaglio printing with an ornate frame-like guilloche border. At left, the numeral '50'; at right, the Venezuelan Coat of Arms as the central vignette; the issuer name 'BANCO CENTRAL DE VENEZUELA' is inscribed along the top, the denomination legend 'CINCUENTA BOLÍVARES' along the bottom, and the numeral '50' repeated in each corner. |
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| Comments |
The Banco Central de Venezuela was only established in 1940, making the earliest examples of this series among the first notes ever issued by the institution. Venezuela's central bank came into existence specifically to wrest monetary control away from the private commercial banks — primarily the Banco de Venezuela and Banco de Caracas — that had previously held that privilege. The transition was not smooth, and the BCV spent its first years consolidating authority over a banking sector that had issued its own notes for decades.
ABNC held the contract for most of the BCV's early series. The twenty-year span of this issue reflects how stable Venezuelan finances remained through the oil boom of the 1950s — there was simply no pressing reason to redesign.