Catalog
500 Pesos
| Issuer | Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay |
|---|---|
| Year | 1931 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 200 × 100 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | el Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay (on top) pagará al portador y a la vista la cantidad de QUINIENTOS PESOS en moneda legal de oro sellado (on left) Ley de 4 de Agosto de 1896 Montevideo 25 de Agosto de 1931 (Translation: the Bank of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (on top) will pay to the bearer and at sight the amount of Five Hundred Pesos in legal currency of sealed gold (on left) Law of August 4th, 1896 Montevideo August 25th, 1931) |
| Reverse description | The face value numeral "500" and the denomination text "QUINIENTOS PESOS" are centred within the main panel, with the issuer's name split between the upper and lower registers of the design. Allegorical male and female figures, personifying the sciences and arts respectively, fill the lateral vignettes on either side of the central value panel, providing a symmetrical, classically inspired composition. |
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| Comments |
Giesecke & Devrient's Leipzig facility produced this note during a period when Uruguay, like much of Latin America, was navigating the financial shock of the Great Depression. The 500 Pesos was a high-denomination instrument — not a note that passed through many hands in daily commerce — which partly explains why surviving examples tend to show light wear rather than the heavy soiling typical of lower denominations from the same series.
Pick 26 belongs to a transitional issue for the Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay, sitting between earlier notes that relied heavily on European plate designs and the more nationally assertive issues that followed later in the decade. G&D's Leipzig connection was severed for Uruguayan contracts once political pressures of the mid-1930s made German sourcing diplomatically awkward.