Colombia · Banco de la República
50 pesos oro · 1984
A fifty-peso oro, Pick 425a: date 12 October 1984, serial 0001806322. This record gathers the face and back of the same unslabbed note.
Catalog facts
- Pick reference
- P# 425a
- Serial number
- 0001806322
- Signatures
- Hugo Palacios Mejía (gerente) and Roberto Salazar Manrique (abogado-subgerente)
- Condition
- Unslabbed (private collection)
- Printage
- Imprenta de Billetes, Bogotá. Banco de la República circulation issue; date on the note 12 October 1984. Ten digits, no series letter. González White 2019 (pp. 80–81) publishes 100,000,000 notes, serials 00.000.001–100.000.000, for that IBB date; serial 0001806322 sits in that range. The same spread lists an asterisk replacement (00.100.231–00.235.185); Hernández (8th ed., 2023) gives the interval 00107344–00215345. Serial 0001806322 — and its eight-digit core 01806322 — does not match those bands. The spread’s OCR jumbles BG# against dates: no guessed BG# is published here. Published size: 140 × 70 mm. The Bank Note Museum groups type 425a under 12.10.1984 and 01.01.1985, without embedded fibres. BanRep’s 1984 table records no 50-peso notes that calendar year; 1983 records 154.5 million and 1985 149.75 million — denomination-year totals, not this date’s printage. This record does not replace the catalogue emisión with those totals.
Face
Back
The note
The Banco de la República ordered this fifty-peso oro of the Pick 425 family (1984–1986) from its own Imprenta de Billetes, opened in Bogotá on 23 October 1959. The face, purple on a multicolour underprint, carries Camilo Torres Tenorio’s portrait at right — labelled “CAMILO TORRES” — and, at center, the promise to pay the bearer fifty gold pesos. The serials are in red: 0001806322, twice, ten digits and no series letter. Beside COLOMBIA sits an ornamental rosette; it is not a replacement asterisk. The printed date is “BOGOTÁ, 12 DE OCTUBRE DE 1984.” The signatures are those of Hugo Palacios Mejía (gerente) and Roberto Salazar Manrique (abogado-subgerente), the pair Numista assigns to this date (HPM, RSM). There is no asterisk between GERENTE and ABOGADO-SUBGERENTE: it is not the replacement of that date. The back shows Colombian orchids — labelled “ORQUÍDEAS COLOMBIANAS”; Cattleya trianae in English-language catalogs — the national arms, and the figures 50. The imprint reads “IMPRENTA DE BILLETES - BOGOTÁ.” That imprint distinguishes type 425 from the 1980–1983 dates of the same portrait and orchids, which carry no printer’s name. The Bank Note Museum groups 425a under 12.10.1984 and 01.01.1985 without embedded fibres; the fibre variety is a separate 1985 row. González White places the lack of watermark and security thread on that IBB block. Distinct from the Pick 390 two-peso oro — the same patriot, engraved by the American Bank Note Company; in this case Series I of 1944 and Series GG of 1955. This collection piece is shown unslabbed.
Scarcity and printage
González White 2019 (pp. 80–81) publishes 100,000,000 notes for the circulating 12 October 1984 date, IBB, serials 00.000.001–100.000.000; serial 0001806322 sits in that range and does not match the asterisk-replacement bands. It does not give a separate printage for this piece. Numista groups the 1984–1986 design under N# 213919 and lists this date as P# 425a, with the printer’s imprint, signatures HPM and RSM. The Bank Note Museum describes Pick 425a as 12.10.1984 and 01.01.1985 without embedded fibres; 425b is 01.01.1986. BanRep’s 1984 table records no 50-peso notes that year; 1983 and 1985 do publish denomination-year totals. This record does not invent a printage or replace the catalogue emisión with those totals.
Population
A PMG or PCGS census for serial 0001806322 has not been independently verified. The note is shown unslabbed.
Sources
-
Bank Note Museum — Colombia P-425, 50 pesos oro (1984–1986)
(opens in a new tab)
425a: 12.10.1984 and 01.01.1985 without embedded fibres; Camilo Torres Tenorio on the face; orchids (Cattleya trianae) on the back. 425b: 01.01.1986.
-
Numista — Colombia 50 pesos oro, N# 213919
(opens in a new tab)
12.10.1984: P# 425a; signatures HPM and RSM; 140 × 70 mm; with the printer’s name on the back. Distinct from the 1980–1983 dates without an imprint.
-
Banco de la República — Banknote and coin production and circulation
(opens in a new tab)
1984 production: no 50-peso notes recorded. 1983: 154.5 million; 1985: 149.75 million. Those are denomination-year totals, not the printage of 12 October 1984 or of this serial.
-
Banco de la República — 60 years of the Imprenta de Billetes
(opens in a new tab)
23 October 1959; first job: the blue 1-peso printed in Bogotá. This 1984 50-peso carries the imprint IMPRENTA DE BILLETES - BOGOTÁ.
-
Pedro Pablo Hernández — Coins and Banknotes of Colombia (Numista L100183)
(opens in a new tab)
8th ed. 2023 (Numista L100183). Lists the ordinary 12 October 1984 and a replacement with an asterisk on the face (interval 00107344–00215345). No guessed Cód. from the OCR is published here, and no Numista H# is overwritten. Price columns and plates are not republished.