Colombia · Banco de la República

5,000 pesos oro note, 1992

5,000 pesos oro · 1992

A five-thousand-peso oro, Pick 436A / TBB B974b: date 31 January 1992, serial 46772124, slabbed PMG 66 Gem Uncirculated EPQ. This record gathers the face and back of the same holder.

Catalog facts

Pick reference: P# 436A · TBB B974b
Serial number: 46772124
Signatures: Francisco José Ortega (gerente) and Antonio Cerón del Hierro (secretario)
Condition: PMG 66 Gem Uncirculated EPQ
Printage: Imprenta de Billetes, Santa Fe de Bogotá (IBSFB). Banco de la República circulation issue; date printed on the face: Santa Fe de Bogotá, 31 January 1992. Published size 140 × 70 mm; eight digits, no series letter. González White 2019 (pp. 124–125) publishes 96,500,000 notes for that IBSFB Núñez–Caro date; serial 46772124 sits in that range. The same spread lists a star replacement (00.100.021–00.274.259); 46772124 does not match that band. The spread’s OCR jumbles BG# against dates: no guessed BG# is published here. The Bank Note Museum numbers the 31.01.1992 and 04.01.1993 dates as Pick 436A (IBSFB) and distinguishes them from Bogotá’s 436 (1990) and from the German and Italian printings (Pick 434 and 435). BanRep’s 1992 table records 96.9 million 5,000-peso notes: that is every note of that face value that year, not this date’s printage. This record does not replace the catalogue emisión with that total.

Face of the 5,000 pesos oro, Pick 436A / TBB B974b, slabbed PMG 66 Gem Uncirculated EPQ: Rafael Núñez, the Ermita del Cabrero, serial 46772124, and the date 31 January 1992.

Back of the 5,000 pesos oro, Pick 436A / TBB B974b, slabbed PMG 66 Gem Uncirculated EPQ: statue of Miguel Antonio Caro, the 1863–1886 list of states, and the imprint IMPRENTA DE BILLETES - SANTA FE DE BOGOTÁ.

The note

The Banco de la República ordered this five-thousand-peso oro of the Núñez–Caro family from its own Imprenta de Billetes. The type commemorates the 1886 Constitution and the United States of Colombia of 1863–1886. The Bank Note Museum numbers the first German dates as Pick 434 (Bundesdruckerei, 1986), the Italian dates as Pick 435 (Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, 1987–1988), the Bogotá dates as Pick 436 (1990), and these Santa Fe de Bogotá dates as Pick 436A (31.01.1992 and 04.01.1993). This piece is the first 436A date. The face, violet on a multicolour underprint, carries Rafael Núñez’s portrait at left and, beside him, Cartagena’s Ermita del Cabrero. At center is the promise to pay the bearer five thousand gold pesos. The serials appear twice, eight digits and no series letter: 46772124, in red at lower left and in black at upper right. The printed date is “SANTA FE DE BOGOTÁ, 31 DE ENERO DE 1992.” The signatures are those of Francisco José Ortega (gerente) and Antonio Cerón del Hierro (secretario), the pair Numista assigns to this date (FJO, ACH). There is no replacement star beside the serial. The watermark is Rafael Núñez’s portrait. The back shows the statue of Miguel Antonio Caro — with the signature “M. A. Caro” under the pedestal — and, at left, the 1863–1886 list of states: Antioquia, Bolívar, Boyacá, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Magdalena, Panamá, Santander, and Tolima. The imprint reads “IMPRENTA DE BILLETES - SANTA FE DE BOGOTÁ.” That imprint distinguishes 436A from Bogotá’s 436. It still reads “pesos oro”: González White notes that the word “oro” is dropped from the 1994 dates onward. It is not this collection’s 1993 example (serial 82210365), nor the José Asunción Silva 5,000 (from 1995), nor an example from the serial ranges the bank published after the Valledupar robbery in October 1994 — those 1994-spread serials do not include 46772124. This piece is slabbed by PMG as 66 Gem Uncirculated EPQ, certification 1914923-003.

The bank

The Núñez–Caro five-thousand appeared in 1986, the centenary of the 1886 Constitution, with the Regeneración president’s portrait and, on the back, Miguel Antonio Caro’s statue and the states of 1863–1886. The first runs were engraved in Berlin and Rome; from 1990 the Imprenta de Billetes printed them in Bogotá and, already with the Santa Fe de Bogotá imprint, in 1992–1993. This piece is the 31 January 1992 date, the first of Pick 436A. It still reads “pesos oro”: González White notes that the word is dropped from this design from 1994. In October 1994 the “robo del siglo” emptied the Valledupar vault: 2,000, 5,000, and 10,000 notes, much of it still unissued. The bank published serial ranges and, in 1995–1996, replaced those three denominations; the next 5,000 honors José Asunción Silva. This record documents an ordinary 1992 example, serial 46772124, slabbed PMG 66 Gem Uncirculated EPQ.

Scarcity and printage

González White 2019 (pp. 124–125) publishes 96,500,000 notes for the circulating 31 January 1992 date, IBSFB, eight digits; serial 46772124 sits in that range and does not match the star-replacement band (00.100.021–00.274.259). It does not give a separate printage for this piece. Numista groups the 1986–1993 design under N# 244719 and lists this date as P# 436A / TBB B974b / Hernández 530, signatures FJO and ACH; that catalogue row is not an official printage. The Bank Note Museum describes Pick 436A as 31.01.1992 and 04.01.1993, IBSFB. BanRep’s 1992 table assigns 96.9 million pieces to every 5,000-peso note of that year: that is not the printage of one date, signature pair, or serial. This record does not invent a printage.

Population

The note is slabbed by PMG as 66 Gem Uncirculated EPQ, certification 1914923-003, with the Exceptional Paper Quality designation. A population census for that holder number has not been independently verified.

Sources

Bank Note Museum — Colombia P-436A, 5,000 pesos oro (1992–1993) (opens in a new tab)
436A: 31.01.1992 and 04.01.1993; Rafael Núñez on the face; statue of Miguel Antonio Caro on the back; Imprenta de Billetes – Santa Fe de Bogotá. Distinct from 434 (Berlin), 435 (Rome), and 436 (Bogotá).
Numista — Colombia 5,000 pesos oro, N# 244719 (opens in a new tab)
31.01.1992: P# 436A / TBB B974b; Hernández 530; signatures FJO and ACH; 140 × 70 mm. Printer: Imprenta de Billetes (Santa Fe de Bogotá).
Banco de la República — Banknote and coin production and circulation (opens in a new tab)
1992 production of 5,000-peso notes: 96.9 million pieces (the denomination total that year, not one Pick date).
Pedro Pablo Hernández — Coins and Banknotes of Colombia (Numista L100183) (opens in a new tab)
8th ed. 2023 (Numista L100183). Numista cites Hernández 530 for the 31 January 1992 circulating note; that H# is not replaced by a guessed Cód. Price columns and plates are not republished.