Catalog
500 Bolívares
| Issuer | Banco de Venezuela |
|---|---|
| Year | 1897 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in terracotta red on cream paper and centres on the Venezuelan national coat of arms within a large circular guilloche rosette. Two additional guilloche rosettes bearing the numeral '500' are positioned symmetrically to the left and right. The bank name is split across two cartouches above and below the central arms, reading 'BANCO DE' at the top and 'VENEZUELA' at the bottom within a rectangular panel. |
| Reverse lettering | BANCO DE VENEZUELA 500 |
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| Comments |
The Banco de Venezuela was a private commercial bank operating under government concession, not a central bank — Venezuela would not establish a true central bank until 1940. Notes of this denomination from 1897 were high-value instruments used almost exclusively in large commercial transactions, and relatively few entered general circulation.
American Bank Note Company produced the series in New York, as they did for much of Latin America during this period. The ABNC held near-monopoly status for prestige currency printing across the continent through the late nineteenth century, which makes attribution straightforward but the notes themselves less individually distinctive than collectors sometimes expect.
Survival rate for this issue is low — 500 Bolívares represented substantial purchasing power, and unredeemed high-denomination notes were routinely destroyed rather than archived.