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500 Bolívares
| Issuer | Banco de Venezuela |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO DE VENEZUELA SOCIEDAD ANÓNIMA VALE POR QUINIENTOS BOLIVARES PAGADEROS AL PORTADOR EN LAS OFICINAS DEL BANCO 500 |
| Reverse description | Engraved entirely in blue, the reverse presents the Venezuelan national coat of arms as the central vignette within an intricate lathe-work frame, with the circular legend 'BANCO DE VENEZUELA' arching above and below the arms. The denomination numeral '500' is repeated in each of the four corners within ornate guilloche borders. The imprint of the American Bank Note Company is printed at the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
Banco de Venezuela was a private commercial bank operating under government concession, not a central bank — Venezuela had no central bank until 1940. Notes like this one circulated as quasi-official currency because the government lacked any alternative mechanism for large-denomination paper. At 500 Bolívares, this was a high-value instrument, almost certainly used for commercial settlements rather than retail trade.
American Bank Note Company produced the plates in New York, as they did for much of Latin American paper currency in this period. The 1921 date places it squarely in the early oil boom years, when foreign concession payments were reshaping the Venezuelan economy at exactly the scale this denomination was built to handle.