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500 Escudos Nationalization of Mining
| Issuer | Banco Central de Chile |
|---|---|
| Year | 1971-1973 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 145 × 70 mm |
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| Obverse description | Red-brown intaglio vignette on multicolor guilloche underprint. A copper mine worker in a cap occupies the left portion of the note, with an industrial mining facility vignette visible in the middle ground behind him. The denomination "QUINIENTOS ESCUDOS" is set within a large central guilloche medallion, flanked by two facsimile signatures (PRESIDENTE and GERENTE GENERAL) below, with the commemorative legend along the bottom margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Dark pink and gray on multicolor underprint. The central vignette presents an aerial view of the Chuquicamata open-pit copper mine, rendered in fine intaglio line work. A three-line quotation attributed to Balmaceda runs along the lower margin, with the issuer name and denomination framing the composition. |
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| Comments |
This note marks one of the more consequential decisions in twentieth-century Latin American monetary history. When Salvador Allende's government nationalized the large copper mines in July 1971 — a measure that passed the Chilean congress unanimously — the Banco Central commemorated the event through currency, an unusual choice that made the 500 Escudos a piece of political as much as economic policy.
Printed domestically by the Casa de Moneda de Chile, the series ran through a period of accelerating inflation that would eventually render the entire Escudo system obsolete. By 1975, the military government that ousted Allende had replaced the Escudo with the new Peso at a rate of 1,000 to one.