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500 000 Cordobas overprinted on 20 Cordobas
| Issuer | Banco Central de Nicaragua |
|---|---|
| Year | 1990 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Second Córdoba (1988-1990) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO CENTRAL DE NICARAGUA 500.000 QUINIENTOS MIL CORDOBAS COMANDANTE GERMAN POMARES ORDONEZ PRIMER VICEPRESIDENTE BANCO CENTRAL DE NICARAGUA PRESIDENTE DEL BANCO CENTRAL DE NICARAGUA MINISTRO DE FINANZAS DE LA REPUBLICA BCN 1985 |
| Reverse description | A vignette at left portrays a crowd of agrarian reform demonstrators marching and carrying a banner inscribed with a well-known Sandinista slogan, rendered in a blue letterpress style against a pale guilloche underprint centred on a sunburst motif. A large black typographed overprint of '500.000 QUINIENTOS MIL CÓRDOBAS' dominates the right half of the note. Cotton plant sprigs with blossoms frame the left border, while ornate rosette medallions appear at each corner. |
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| Comments |
Nicaragua's hyperinflation in the late 1980s was severe enough that the government ran out of options faster than it could print new plates. Rather than commission entirely new high-denomination notes, the Banco Central authorized a provisional overprint series — existing 20 Córdoba stock, already printed by CBNC in Ottawa, was stamped with new values reaching into the hundreds of thousands. The 500,000 Córdoba overprint on this note represents a multiplication factor of 25,000 on the face value of the underlying bill.
The overprint program was a stopgap. By April 1991, Nicaragua replaced the Córdoba with the Gold Córdoba at a rate of 5,000,000 to 1, rendering the entire inflationary series obsolete almost immediately after issue.