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500 Pesetas Banco de España - Bilbao
| Issuer | Banco de España, Bilbao |
|---|---|
| Year | 1937 |
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| Printer | Huecograbado Arte y Editorial Vasca S.A., Bilbao, Spain |
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| Obverse description | The face is dominated by a geometric guilloche border framing the entire design, with a repeated 'BANCO DE ESPAÑA' underprint across the field. A circular coat of arms occupies the central position against the patterned background. Denomination numerals and the issuing authority's inscriptions are arranged in letterpress within the framed composition. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 500 EL BANCO DE ESPAÑA / BILBAO El Banco de España Pagará al portador QUINIENTAS pesetas BILBAO 1 de Enero de 1937 (Translation: The Bank of Spain / Bilbao The Bank of Spain Will pay the bearer Five Hundred Pesetas Bilbao January 1, 1937) |
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| Comments |
One of the more politically charged emissions of the entire Spanish Civil War period. The Banco de España's Bilbao branch issued this note under the authority of the Basque autonomous government — the Euzkadi administration that held the northern industrial zone until Franco's forces took Bilbao in June 1937. The printer, Arte y Editorial Vasca, was a local commercial firm pressed into currency production under siege conditions, which partly explains the uneven quality seen across surviving examples.
The series had an extremely short active life. After the fall of Bilbao, these notes were rendered worthless almost immediately and never redeemed by the Nationalist authorities.