50 Pesos

Banco de Venezuela's 1862 series predates the institution most collectors associate with that name — the 20th-century central bank. This note was issued by an earlier private commercial bank of the same name, operating under a government concession during Venezuela's mid-century banking experiment, before chronic political instability and monetary disorder dismantled most of the country's nascent financial infrastructure within the decade.

Local printing in Caracas at this period was technically limited, and the result shows. The signatures of Pardo y Cº and J. Marcano are manuscript, applied by hand at issuance — routine for the period but now a primary authentication point, as forgeries of Venezuelan private bank issues circulated even contemporaneously.