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800 Bolívares
| Issuer | Banco Caracas |
|---|---|
| Year | 1891 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | P#139 |
| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by a central allegorical vignette at left showing two female figures in a classical composition, one standing and one seated, rendered in fine intaglio engraving. The bank title 'BANCO CARACAS' appears across the upper portion in bold letterpress, with the denomination '800 BOLÍVARES' repeated at upper and lower right within ornate guilloche panels. The text 'OCHOCIENTOS BOLÍVARES' is inscribed in large uppercase letters across the centre, above the date and place of issue 'Caracas... de 1891', with handwritten signatures of bank officials below. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in blue-green tones with a central oval vignette enclosing an allegorical female figure holding scales of justice and a staff, set against a harbour scene with a ship, surrounded by the circular inscription 'BANCO CARACAS COMPAÑÍA ANÓNIMA'. Elaborate guilloche latticework and ornamental geometric borders fill the left and right panels, each bearing the denomination '800' with the legend 'OCHOCIENTOS BOLÍVARES' in vertical orientation. The capital statement 'CAPITAL Bf 6.000.000' appears within the central ring. |
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| Comments |
Banco Caracas was a private commercial bank operating under Venezuela's free banking period, competing with institutions like Banco de Venezuela and Banco de Maracaibo before the state eventually consolidated monetary control in the early twentieth century. The American Bank Note Company's involvement was entirely routine for Latin American private banks of this period — Caracas institutions regularly contracted New York engravers for prestige and security, lacking comparable domestic printing infrastructure.
The 800 bolívares denomination is the genuinely unusual detail here. It sits at an awkward value suggesting a large commercial or trade purpose rather than general retail circulation, and surviving examples from Banco Caracas across all denominations are scarce — the bank's records and note stocks were largely disrupted during Venezuela's chronic political instabilities of the 1890s.