On 1 January 2008 Venezuela switched to the «strong» bolívar (bolívar fuerte), exchanging one new unit for a thousand old ones. The banknote series for it is already dated 2007, and each of its denominations pairs a figure from the country’s history on the front with an animal of Venezuelan nature on the back.

The highest denomination of the series belongs to Simón Bolívar: his portrait appears on the front and in the watermark. The back shows red siskins, locally called cardenalitos, against Ávila mountain.

This example is variety P93j, with the year 2015 on the note. The design stayed unchanged until 2014–2015: from one printing to the next only the date on the note and the serial prefixes changed. The «strong» bolívar lasted ten years: on 20 August 2018 it was replaced by the «sovereign» bolívar at 100,000 to 1.

The highest denomination of the first «strong» bolívar series, bearing the Liberator’s portrait, is the central note in a Venezuela collection of this decade. UNC condition means the note has never circulated: no folds, no wear, no soiling, even corners — just as it left the press.

Would you like to complete the whole series? See the other denominations in the VPcoins catalogue.