Catalog
5000 Pesos
| Issuer | Banco de Mexico |
|---|---|
| Year | 1980-1985 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in red and orange tones on a light underprint with fine guilloche work. A central vignette presents intaglio portraits of the six Niños Héroes — the young military cadets who fell at the Battle of Chapultepec in 1847 — arranged in a row, with Juan de la Barrera rendered prominently at center in a red-collared uniform; individual names are inscribed beneath each portrait. To the right, a vignette of the Mexican national flag draped over a military standard evokes the battle scene, accompanied by the inscription "BATALLON ACTIVO DE SAN BLAS" and "DEFENSA DE CHAPULTEPEC 1847"; three signature lines appear at lower right with titles "DIRECCION GENERAL", "JUNTA DE GOBIERNO", and "CAJERO". The denomination "5000" appears in large numerals at upper right, with the issuing legend and series/serial number printed in black. |
|---|---|
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| Protection description | Bust of Juan de la Barrera |
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| Comments |
The P#88 series was printed in-house at Banco de México's own facilities — one of the earlier high-denomination notes produced entirely without a foreign security printer. Mexico had relied on American Bank Note Company and others for decades before expanding its domestic printing capacity seriously in the late 1970s. That shift was partly political, partly driven by the sheer volume demands of an economy lurching through oil-boom inflation.
The 5000 Peso denomination itself tells you something about where Mexico was heading. When this series opened in 1980, it was a high-value note; by 1985, it barely covered a bus fare in some cities. The peso lost roughly 95% of its value against the dollar across that span.