500 Nuevos Pesos

Uruguay's 500 Nuevos Pesos series was introduced as the country began clawing back from the catastrophic inflation of the early 1970s, which had forced the 1975 monetary reform replacing old pesos at 1,000:1. The "Nuevos Pesos" designation was itself a political signal — a government insisting the worst was over, though inflation would eventually return with enough force to render this denomination nearly worthless before the series closed.

Thomas De La Rue's involvement was typical for Latin American central banks of the period seeking internationally credible production. The watermark remains the sole significant security feature, modest even by the standards of its time.