Catalog
50 Centavos
| Issuer | Tesoro Nacional de Nicaragua |
|---|---|
| Year | 1900 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
| 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 | REPÚBLICA DE NICARAGUA VALE POR CINCUENTA CENTAVOS que el Tesoro Nacional recibirá en calidad de moneda de curso legal. 15 de Setiembre de 1900. Waterlow & Sons Ltd. Londres, Inglaterra (Translation: Republic of Nicaragua Value of Fifty Cents Which The Nacional Treasury will receive as legal currency. September 15, 1900. Waterlow & Sons Ltd. London, England) |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in blue, the reverse is dominated by an elaborate symmetrical guilloche design with ornamental scrollwork filling the entire field. The Nicaraguan Coat of Arms — an equilateral triangle enclosing a landscape with five volcanoes and a rising sun, surrounded by a circular legend — is set within a central vignette. Denomination panels reading "CINCUENTA CENTAVOS" appear horizontally at left and right, with corner numerals "50" rendered in heart-shaped guilloche cartouches at all four corners. The printer's imprint appears at the bottom center. |
| 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 |
Nicaragua's Tesoro Nacional issued this note during a period of acute monetary instability — the country had no functioning central bank, and the national treasury was effectively performing banking functions it was structurally unequipped to manage. Fractional notes like this one were a practical response to chronic coin shortages, particularly in small-denomination silver, which was being hoarded or exported faster than it could be minted.
Waterlow & Sons held the contract, printing in London — a common arrangement for Central American issuers who lacked domestic security printing infrastructure. The 1900 series predates the monetary reforms that would eventually produce the Banco Nacional de Nicaragua by over two decades.