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!
500 Pesos
| Issuer | El Banco Salvadoreño |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| 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 | The obverse is printed in dark olive-green and black intaglio on a yellow-green guilloche underprint. A central vignette portrays an allegorical female figure reclining against a lion, holding a staff and resting her arm on an open book, with a torch and classical drapery completing the composition. The bank title 'El Banco Salvadoreño' is inscribed in large serif lettering across the top, flanked by denomination numerals '500' in each upper corner, with the legend 'PAGARÁ AL PORTADOR EN MONEDA EFECTIVA' below, serial number positions marked 'Nº 00000' on each side, and the text 'QUINIENTOS PESOS' and 'San Salvador' appearing in the lower portion alongside two 'SPECIMEN' overprints and the arms of El Salvador in a circular vignette at right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in olive-green intaglio and features an intricate all-over guilloche pattern composed of concentric lathe-work rosettes and an ornate scalloped border. A central oval medallion bears the bank name 'EL BANCO SALVADOREÑO' in bold block lettering, flanked symmetrically by two square panels each containing the denomination numeral '500' within their own guilloche framework. The imprint of the American Bank Note Company, New York appears in small text at the bottom centre. |
| 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 |
El Banco Salvadoreño was one of several private issuing banks operating in El Salvador before the government centralized currency control under the Banco Central de Reserva in 1934. The 500 Pesos denomination was almost certainly a commercial instrument rather than everyday tender — at that face value, these notes would have moved between merchants and institutions, not street markets.
American Bank Note Company produced the plates in New York, as it did for much of Central America's private banking paper in this period. ABNC work from this era is identifiable by its intaglio depth and fine lathe-work guilloche, which counterfeiters of the time simply could not replicate convincingly.
Surviving examples of P#S182 are genuinely scarce — high-denomination private bank issues from pre-centralization El Salvador were rarely retained once redemption periods closed.