5000 Pesos

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.