Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Bolívares
| Issuer | Banco de Venezuela |
|---|---|
| Year | 1897 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Printed in dark green and black, the obverse centres on a large guilloche oval enclosing the bold numeral '50', with a classical allegorical female figure seated at right, draped in robes and resting against a cornucopia and shield in fine intaglio engraving. The bank title 'BANCO DE VENEZUELA' runs across the upper margin in prominent letterpress, while 'CINCUENTA BOLÍVARES' is inscribed across the centre field, with corner denomination numerals '50' at all four angles. Capital and share information appears at upper left, with the payment clause and place of issue below the central text. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO DE VENEZUELA SOCIEDAD ANONIMA CAPITAL B/15.000.000. VALE POR EL CINQUENTA BOLÍVARES QUE SE PAGARÁN AL PORTADOR EN CARACAS A LA PRESENTACIÓN. CARACAS POR EL BANCO DE VENEZUELA. EL SECRETARIO. SPECIMEN |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Banco de Venezuela was a private commercial bank granted note-issuing privileges by the Venezuelan government — one of several competing issuing institutions operating in the country before the Banco Central de Venezuela was established in 1940. The American Bank Note Company held the printing contract for much of this private-era Venezuelan paper, and the quality of engraving reflects ABNC's high-end commercial work of the 1890s.
The 1897 date places this note squarely within the long authoritarian presidency of Joaquín Crespo, a period of relative monetary stability compared to the chaos that followed under Cipriano Castro after 1899. Notes from private Venezuelan issuers of this decade are genuinely scarce in any condition — survival rates were low, and the eventual centralization of currency drove most examples out of circulation and into destruction.