Colombia · Treasury of the Republic · ABNC
Half peso oro · Republic of Colombia · 1953
A circulating half-peso oro, Pick 345b: Series C, seven-digit serial C5256707, 18 February 1953. The Treasury issued it, not the Banco de la República. This record gathers the face and back of the same unslabbed note.
Catalog facts
- Pick reference
- P# 345b
- Serial number
- C 5256707
- Signatures
- Antonio Álvarez Restrepo (Minister of Finance), Hernando Llorente (Comptroller General), and Hernando Escallón Vargas (Treasurer General)
- Condition
- Circulated, unslabbed (private collection)
- Printage
- American Bank Note Company, New York. Treasury of the Republic of Colombia issue, not Banco de la República; date on the note 18 February 1953. Published size: 112 × 58 mm. Series C, a single seven-digit serial. González White 2019 numbers this date BG# 012 (p. 28): emisión 10,000,000, serials C0.000.001–C10.000.000, seven digits. Hernández (8th ed., 2023) numbers the date as Cód. 12; Numista concurs Hernández 12 and P# 345b, prefix C. Serial C5256707 falls in that range. BanRep’s annual banknote production tables begin in 1960; there is no denomination total for 1953.
Face
Back
The note
The Treasury of the Republic of Colombia ordered this half-peso oro of the Pick 345 family (1948–1953), popularly “Lleritas” or “Marianitos,” from the American Bank Note Company in New York. The face title is “REPÚBLICA DE COLOMBIA,” not “Banco de la República”: González White 2019 records that, from 1923, these are among the few Colombian notes the bank did not issue. The face, black on an orange, green, and pale-blue underprint, carries at center the portrait of Antonio Nariño in uniform, named “NARIÑO” under the oval, and the promise to pay the bearer half a gold peso. The serial appears once, in red, at upper left: C5256707. González White notes that, from 1923, this is the only Colombian type with a single numbering, in the upper-left quadrant. The legend “SERIE C” appears twice in black. At right are “LEY 33 DE 1936, DECRETO 404 DE 1953” and “BOGOTÁ, FEBRERO 18 DE 1953.” The signatures are those of Antonio Álvarez Restrepo (Minister of Finance), Hernando Llorente (Comptroller General), and Hernando Escallón Vargas (Treasurer General), the trio González White assigns to 1953. The brown back shows the national coat of arms between the figures 1/2 and the imprint “AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY.” Type 345b, per the Bank Note Museum, covers that date and prefix C only. Numista groups the 1948–1953 design under N# 205254 and marks the 18.02.1953 prefix-C date’s frequency at 44% among owners of the type; it cites Hernández 12. It is not the Banco de la República 1935 half peso (Pick 384, Caldas and Bolívar), nor the 1942–1943 overstamped halves (Pick 397), nor the 1948 Pick 345a (Series A and B). This collection piece is shown in a sleeve, circulated, unslabbed; the back shows foxing.
Scarcity and printage
González White 2019 (BG# 012, p. 28) publishes 10,000,000 notes for 18 February 1953, seven-digit Series C, serials C0.000.001–C10.000.000. The Bank Note Museum describes Pick 345b as that date of the República de Colombia ABNC ½ peso oro: Nariño on the face, the arms on the back, prefix C. Numista groups the 1948–1953 design under N# 205254, gives the type a rarity index of 50, and marks the 18.02.1953 prefix-C date’s frequency at 44% among owners of the type. Hernández (8th ed., 2023) numbers the date Cód. 12 and calls the type “Lleritas” or “Marianito.” It is neither a proof nor a specimen. This record does not replace that BG# emisión with a BanRep denomination-year total. Price columns are not published.
Population
A PMG or PCGS census for serial C5256707 has not been independently verified. The note is shown in a sleeve, circulated, unslabbed.
Sources
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Bank Note Museum — Colombia P-345, ½ peso oro (1948–1953)
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345b: 18.02.1953, prefix C; issuer República de Colombia; Antonio Nariño on the face; arms on the back; ABNC.
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Numista — Colombia ½ peso oro, N# 205254
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18.02.1953: P# 345b; Hernández 12; prefix C; 112 × 58 mm; 44% frequency within the type; rarity index 50. Numista places the issuer at the Banco de la República; the printed title and González White 2019 assign the issue to the Treasury.
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Banknote World — Colombia ½ peso oro 1953, P-345b
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18.02.1953; ABNC; Nariño on the face, arms on the back; signatures Restrepo, Escallón Vargas, and Llorente.
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Pedro Pablo Hernández — Coins and Banknotes of Colombia (Numista L100183)
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8th ed. 2023: Cód. 12, 18 February 1953, Series C. Numista cites Hernández 12 for this date; that H# matches the 2023 Cód. The type is known as “Lleritas” or “Marianito”; the Nation issued it, not the bank.