Ramón Rosa was born in Tegucigalpa in 1848 and died in 1893, the very year given to the view of the Rosario mines at San Juancito on the back of this 500-lempira note. The reformer’s portrait and a landscape dated to the year of his death thus share one piece of paper.

A lawyer by training, Rosa was one of the chief architects of the Liberal reform under President Marco Aurelio Soto. As a positivist he put his faith in material progress and scientific education, and the reformers of his generation steered Honduras towards international commerce.

The 500 lempiras is the country’s highest denomination, and the central bank chose Rosa to carry it. This example is dated 2012, from the long run of the design pairing his portrait with the mining scene on the back.

For a Central American collection, or a theme of statesmen and reformers on money, it is a key Honduran piece. Uncirculated: the note has never circulated.