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0.50 Quetzal
| Issuer | Banco de Guatemala |
|---|---|
| Year | 1992 |
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| Printer | Oberthur Fiduciaire, France |
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| Obverse description | At centre, the large denomination numeral Q0.50 is printed in intaglio, flanked to the left by a polychrome Mayan codex vignette and to the right by an intaglio portrait of Tecún Umán, the Maya K'iche' national hero, in traditional headdress. The bank title BANCO DE GUATEMALA and secondary legend GUATEMALA CENTRO AMERICA appear across the top, with a quetzal bird vignette in the upper left. Two facsimile signatures of the Gerente and Presidente appear below the central text, with the serial number printed in red at the lower left and lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The centre of the note is dominated by an intaglio vignette of Temple I (Temple of the Great Jaguar) at Tikal, surrounded by tropical vegetation, rendered in warm brown and olive tones against a multicolour guilloche underprint. The denomination Q0.50 appears in large numerals at the left, with the text CINCUENTA CENTAVOS DE QUETZAL at the upper right. Decorative Mayan geometric borders run along all four edges, and a small Mayan figure vignette is visible in the lower right corner. |
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| Comments |
By 1992, Guatemala's monetary system had just emerged from a period of severe distortion — the quetzal had been pegged at artificial rates through much of the 1980s before a managed float was introduced in 1989, and the half-quetzal denomination was seeing real daily use again after years of inflationary pressure had effectively pushed it out of circulation. Oberthur Fiduciaire, the Rennes-based security printer, had held longstanding contracts with several Latin American central banks and took over Guatemalan production as the country restabilized.
P#79 runs through multiple signature varieties reflecting successive changes in bank and finance ministry personnel during the early 1990s — worth distinguishing if collecting by signature pair.