Catalog
50 Pesos
| Issuer | Banco Nacional de la República de Colombia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1900 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Black print on orange underprint, with a vignette of a woman and trough at left, the Colombian Arms at center, and a portrait of Simón Bolívar at right. The design is framed by fine guilloche borders with denomination numerals repeated in the margins. Inscriptions identifying the Banco Nacional de la República de Colombia and the promise to pay appear across the face, with the issue date of 30 September 1900 at lower center. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed in pinkish-orange, the reverse is dominated by two large circular guilloche medallions bearing the denomination numeral "50" at left and right, flanking a central vignette of a seated allegorical female figure set within an ornate cartouche. A decorative rosette seal appears below the central vignette, and the entire design is enclosed by a scalloped guilloche border with repeated "50" numerals in the side margins. The printer's imprint appears at the bottom center. |
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| Comments |
The Banco Nacional de la República de Colombia had a turbulent existence — Congress voted to liquidate it in 1894, but the institution limped on through administrative inertia and the catastrophic fiscal demands of the Thousand Days War, which began in October 1899. Notes from 1900 were issued directly into that conflict, a civil war that killed perhaps 100,000 people and left Colombian paper currency in near-total disrepute.
Printing locally at the Litografía Nacional in Bogotá rather than contracting abroad reflects both wartime logistics and the bank's deteriorating financial standing by this date.