Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Bolivianos Banco Nacional de Bolivia
| Issuer | Banco Nacional de Bolivia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1877 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Paper |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | EL BANCO NACIONAL DE BOLIVIA PAGARÁ A LA VISTA AL PORTADOR SUCRE, Enero 1ro 1877 CINCUENTA BOLIVIANOS EN MONEDA CORRIENTE DELEGADO DEL GOBIERNO CONTADOR GERENTE 50 |
| Reverse description | Printed in orange and black, the reverse centres on a large intaglio vignette of a loaded mule train with an armed muleteer on a mountain trail, set against a rocky Andean landscape. The surrounding border is an intricate orange lathe-work guilloche with scalloped edges and denomination numerals 50 in each corner. Bank title BANCO NACIONAL / DE BOLIVIA appears in two orange letterpress panels above and below the central vignette. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Banco Nacional de Bolivia was established in 1871 as the country's first formally chartered bank, and by 1877 it held note-issuing privileges that effectively made it Bolivia's closest equivalent to a central bank — a status it would lose within two decades as rival provincial banks proliferated. The American Bank Note Company contract placed this note firmly within the broader pattern of South American governments and banks outsourcing engraving to New York, where ABNC's intaglio quality was simply unmatched by anything available domestically.
Bolivia's monetary system in this period was still anchored to silver, and the Boliviano itself had only been introduced in 1864 to replace the old peso. A 50-boliviano denomination in 1877 represented serious purchasing power — these were not notes that passed through many hands.