Ecuador’s currency itself bore a hero’s name, and the five sucres carries his portrait: Antonio José de Sucre, a native of Cumaná in Venezuela, defeated the Spanish on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano near Quito on 24 May 1822, opening Ecuador’s road to independence. Two years later, on 9 December 1824, his victory at Ayacucho decided the fate of Spanish rule in Peru, and in 1825–1828 he was president of Bolivia.

Sucre was killed by gunshots in an ambush in 1830, and his remains, as he himself wished, rest in Quito Cathedral. The back of the note shows the coat of arms of Ecuador.

This note, dated 20 April 1983, was printed in the United States by the American Bank Note Company. The sucre’s history of more than a century ended at the turn of the millennium: on 9 January 2000 President Jamil Mahuad announced the switch to the US dollar at 25,000 sucres to the dollar, and from 13 March 2000 the dollar became legal tender in Ecuador.

For an Ecuador collection this is the lowest sucre value, bearing the portrait of the man who gave the currency its name, and a place in a «heroes of Latin American independence» set. UNC condition means the note has never circulated: no folds, no wear, no soiling, even corners — just as it left the press.

VPcoins specialises in coins and banknotes, so do take a look at the other items in our catalogue.