500 000 Cordobas overprinted on 20 Cordobas

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.