500 Bolívares Red type

Venezuela's 1943–1946 500 Bolívares issue arrived during a period of rapid oil-driven fiscal expansion, when the Banco Central — established only in 1940 — was still building the institutional machinery to manage a suddenly resource-rich economy. The American Bank Note Company had a long relationship with Venezuelan currency production, and the "Red type" designation distinguishes this series from earlier color variants of the same denomination, reflecting a deliberate change rather than a simple reissue.

Pick 36 is genuinely scarce in any grade. High-denomination notes of this period circulated almost exclusively within banking and commercial channels, yet survival rates remain low — the BCV undertook aggressive redemption and destruction campaigns as new series replaced older ones through the late 1940s.