Catalog
50 Pesos
| Issuer | Banco Nacional de Cuba |
|---|---|
| Year | 1961 |
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| Printer | Státní Tiskárna Cenin, Prague, Czech Republic (1953-date) |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO NACIONAL DE CUBA CINCUENTA CINCUENTA PESOS PESOS CALIXTO GARCIA IÑIGUEZ GARANTIZADO INTEGRAMENTE CON EL ORO, CAMBIO EXTRANJERO CONVERTIBLE EN ORO Y TODOS LOS DEMÁS ACTIVOS DEL BANCO NACIONAL DE CUBA. ESTE BILLETE CONSTITUYE UNA OBLIGACIÓN DEL ESTADO CUBANO. (Translation: National Bank of Cuba Fifty Fifty Pesos Pesos Calixto García Iñiguez Fully Guaranteed with the gold, foreign exchange convertible into gold and all the other assets of the National Bank of Cuba This note constitutes an obligation of the Cuban State.) |
| Reverse description | Central allegorical vignette commemorating the nationalization of foreign enterprises on 6 August 1960, with the names of expropriated companies including United Fruit and Esso incorporated into the design. The country name appears across the top, and the face value is expressed in both numerals and letters on either side. |
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| Comments |
The 1961 Cuban 50 Pesos was printed by Státní Tiskárna Cenin (STC) in Prague — a direct consequence of the revolution's break with Washington and the subsequent U.S. trade embargo, which cut Cuba off from the American Bank Note Company and other Western security printers it had previously relied upon. The shift to Czechoslovak printing was part of a broader realignment with the Eastern Bloc that reshaped Cuban institutions almost overnight.
STC had considerable experience printing currency for socialist states and produced the note to high intaglio standards. This is one of the earlier issues in the post-revolutionary series before the Banco Nacional itself was absorbed into state monetary mechanisms restructured through the 1960s.