| Obverse description |
Central intaglio vignette of a seated allegorical Liberty figure, holding a staff and resting beside a shield bearing the sun of Peru, with a laurel-wreathed column to her right, all within an oval guilloche border. The bank title BANCO CENTRAL DE RESERVA DEL PERU arches across the top, with the denomination numeral 50 set within large rosette guilloche panels to each side. Issue date LIMA, 13 de Mayo de 1959 appears at lower right, with three manuscript signature lines across the bottom margin bearing the titles DIRECTOR, PRESIDENTE, and GERENTE GENERAL, and the printer's imprint of Thomas De La Rue & Co. Ltd. at foot centre. |
| Reverse description |
Central intaglio vignette of the Peruvian national arms within a circular guilloche surround, the shield quartered with a vicuna, a cinchona tree, and a cornucopia, encircled by an olive and laurel wreath tied at base. The denomination numeral 50 appears within large star-form guilloche panels at left and right, and the bank title BANCO CENTRAL DE RESERVA DEL PERU is inscribed at the top. A fine engine-turned guilloche underprint covers the entire field in blue-green tones, with the printer's imprint THOMAS DE LA RUE & COY LTD. LONDRES at foot centre. |
Thomas De La Rue held the Peruvian printing contract through much of the mid-twentieth century, and this series reflects that relationship — a stable, long-running issue produced across a full decade without major design revision. The Banco Central de Reserva had been restructured in 1931 under American monetary advisor Edwin Kemmerer, whose reform programs swept through several South American central banks in sequence, and the conservative note designs of the following decades mirror that institutional caution.
Date variants within the P#72 series span 1949 through 1959, making precise year identification important for cataloging. Later dates in the run tend to be more worn, reflecting heavier commercial use as the Peruvian economy expanded through the 1950s.