Currency Today : Venezuela 18

It has been a while since I have added some Venezolan notes.

More can be found under : Previous issues Venezuela

As a quick reminder, the series of banknotes, started with the Bolívares Fuertes (BsF), in 2007.
With a set of 2 Bolívares, up to a 100 Bolívares -note.
In 2017, the set was extended (replaced) by higher values of the BsF currency.
A set of 500 BsF to 100,000 BsF was in use.

Boliváres Fuertes 2007-2017

From 2018 on, the BsF was replaced by new notes, omitting 5 zero's.
The new 200,000 BsF became a 2 BsS-note (Boliváres Soberanos).
This set came at first with a 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 - note. In march of the same year, a 200 BsS-note, and in May a 500 BsS-note were added.

In 2019, they skipped a possible 1000, 2000 and 5000 BsS-note, and started emitting 10,000; 20,000; 50,000 BsS.
By 2020, they skipped a possible 100,000-note, and went straight away to 200MIL (200,000), 500MIL (500,000) and 1 Million (1,000,000).
 

2018-2020 Boliváres Soberanos

One year later, the Boliváres Soberanos were not coping with the inflation anymore, so another devaluation took place, now emitting 6 zero's on the notes.
The note representing 1 million BsS became 1 BsD (Bolívares Digitales) - or 10,000,000,000 BsF if you like.

The note was not reprinted, in the new currency, but the 1 of 1 Millión, was good enough to recognize it as a new '1' -note. Followed by 5, 10 and 20 in the new BsD-currency.

2021 Boliváres Digitales

 

On April 29, 2021, the set was completed with a new 50 and 100 Bolívares Digitales note.

50 and 100 Bolívares Digitales

 

Reverse - 200th anniversary of the battle of Carabobo

Evolution of the Bolívares-banknotes:

evolution of the Bolívares notes

Currency Today : Venezuela 17

Since inflation continues in Venezuela, and the number of zeros become numerous again, a reform of the BsS was introduced in 2020, when again a 1,000,000-note was printed.

The new name : Bolívares Digitales replaced 1,000,000 BvS (or 10,000,000,000,000 BvF) by 1 BvD.
Unlike the name suggests, the notes are really printed paper money (not digital).
The 1 BvD still has the old valuta of 1 million boliváres soberanos, but the higher denominations, issued from April 2021 on, are in the new system.

The first note issued in the new 'currency' is the 5 BsD.
5 is easier to count with then the 5,000,000 before, at the time of issue, 5 millions soberanos, represented hardly one US dollar.

5 BvD

This series have all a similar, monochrome background.

reverse side of 5 Bolívares Digitales

 

A first note of 10 BsD and a second one of 20 BsD, have already a ten- and twentyfold of the note issued 7  months earlier.

Serial number on the 10 BsD is here a B (second emission) but on the 20 BsD, we see an X.
Damaged notes or erronous notes cannot be brought into circulation, and are replaced by another note, to avoid that the same serial number would appear on two notes.

This series of notes that replace a damaged one, start with an X. Other countries have different systems to indicate a note is a replacement note (i.e. with a star-marking, Z-serial letter, ...)

Replacement notes have the same value when in circulation, but are part of a smaller number of issued notes.
As you see on the note, the serial number starts with 3 zeros, in this case, there are about 2 thousand replacement notes issued.

At the reverse side, we see the same image as the previous 1 BsD (1 million BsS) note.

reverse side of 10 and 20 BsD

The colours again are in one shade only, and there are no further markings or numbers on the back of the note.

and the story continues...

Currency Today : Venezuela 16

By 23 April 2020, the exchange rate for the Venezolan Bolívar Soberano, was 1 USD = 144,697 BsS.
One day later it was already 1 USD = 171,140 BsS

New notes were needed once again...
Similar to the notes issued in 2019, the 2020 notes are predominal in one colour.
The many zeros on the new notes (200,000 - 500,000) are replace by the word MIL (thousand).

200,000 BsS

200,000 BsS - verso

The 200 MIL BsB (or 200,000 BsS)-note is in a soft brownish-grey colour.

And the 500 MIL (or 500,000 BsS)-note is purple.

500,000 BsS

500,000 BsS - verso

In the same set, a 1,000,000 -note (1 millón) concludes the series.

Although the colour is not very expressive, for this note, at least two colours were used.

One small addition to this note, is the image of the Battle of Carabobo, which took place 200 years earlier.

1,000,000 BsS

1,000,000 BsS - verso

In 2020 the minimum wage in Venezuela was about 1,2 million BsS.
However, by the time the 1 million note was announced, its value had already dropped to a depressing half US dollar.

Similar to the paper note, a 'digital' version was introduced too.

The 6 notes in use in 2020 therefore had a 'digital' equivalent, with less zeros.

to be continued ... ?

Currency Today : Venezuela 15

The banknotes in use in Venezuela, in 2018 had a 500 Bolívares Soberanos as highest denomination.
Since the Boliváres "soberano" already replaced the previous 'Bolívares Fuertes' by 100,000 to 1, this 'high value' note, represented 500,000,000 of the old units.

And yet, in 2019 the need for even higher face values was so urgent, that 3 new banknotes had to be issued.

The Venezolan national bank skipped the logic line of notes, and did not issue a 1000, 2000 or 5000 note, but issued directly a 10,000 BsS note, replacing 20 of the highest value notes in circulation.
At the same time, also a 20,000 BsS and a 50,000 BsS note were issued.

10,000 BsS - 2019

10,000 BsS - 2019 reverse

The new notes all bare the date of 22 January 2019.

20,000 BsS - 2019

20,000 BsS - 2019 reverse

As inflation was (is) progressing in an unseen speed, the quality of the notes, is mediocre.
All 3 notes come in one colour, blue, green and brown.
No effort was done to create a different image on the notes. Each of the note shows Simón Bolívar on the front side, and his mausoleum on the reverse side.

Except for a security thread and a double serial number on the front side, the back side has no extra printings.
This set does not longer issue endangered animals of Venezula on the notes.

The notes with a narrow security thread segments were printed by Goznak (Russia), the others, elsewhere.

to be continued....

Inflating your collection : 0 Introduction b

When I was referring to Venezuela, although there is a high inflation, the banknotes alwas had 'reasonable' numbers on the notes. From 2 to 100,000 (100 mil) bolívares fuertes, and a second set from 2 to 500 bolívares soberanos
To prevent an endless number of zeros on the notes, the currency devaluated and 5 zeros were skipped. If not, the second set of notes would have gone from 2(00,000) to 500(00,000) or 5 million bolívares.

If a currency does not devaluate, the number of zeros just add up, and there we encounter a second problem. Not because of the mathematical number, but the written number...
Ten and hundred are the same everywhere in the world. So is thousand and a million, but there it stops.
Where the States name "1,000,000,000" a billion, Europeans talk about a "milliard", as for them, a billion is 1,000,000,000,000... thousand times more.
The origine of this difference lies in the fact that some countries use the 'long scale' and some use the 'short scale'. One thing is for sure, the scientific numbering is the same in both scales.

The relationship between the numeric values and the corresponding names in the two scales:
short scale (multiples of thousands)

long scale (multiples of millions)

In the long scale, there is always a step between each "-illions", ending in "-illiard".

Benefit of the short scale : per multiple of thousand, we add up : million, bi-llion, tri-llion ...
Benefit of the long scale : logic billion is million x million, trillion is million x million x million
and the long scale won't run easily out of names either.

example : US trillion = 1,000,000 x 1,000 x 1,000 or 1,000,000,000,000
European trillion = 1,000,000 x 1,000,000 x 1,000,000 or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
We will encounter some of those huge numbers in the future posts.

to be continued...

Inflating your collection : 0 Introduction a

Imagine, there is only one bakery in town, and 10 possible buyers.
The baker can make 10 birthday cakes, and sell one to each of his customers.
Everyone pleased, everyone feeded - the value of one cake is 1 unit of the currency.

However, if 100 people want to buy a cake, the baker needs to make more cakes.
But maybe he only has one oven, or limited access to flower, milk, butter, staff, place ...
No problem, he can raise his price to 2 units per cake, he knows he will sell anyhow.
One currency-unit, now represents half of a cake, as the full cake costs double.

In normal situations, this is what happens to keep the economy going. There is a raise of prices as time goes by. People will earn more money, to keep up with the prices, prices go up again ...
This is what we call inflation. From a capitalistic point of view, a healty situation.

shoes in 1922

shoes in 2020

As long as prices rise in a moderated way, (let's say 2% per year) there is no problem.
But what if prices double every year (100% inflation) or even faster ...
In that case we talk about hyperinflation.

It happened to Germany after the first World War in 1923, to Greece in 1944, Hungary in 1946, Yougoslavia in 1994 and more recently to Zimbabwe in 2008.
In my post on Venezolan notes I already posted some notes that were subject to hyperinflation.
How bad the situation in Venezuela might be, they don't even reach the top 10 of worst cases...
(https://rainbowstampsandcoins.blogspot.com/2016/01/currency-today-venezuela-01.html)

Venezolan Bolívar

500 bolívares soberanos

to be continued ...

Currency Today : Venezuela 14

In this post, I present the last two Venezolan notes (at this moment).

200 BsS and 500 BsS

Again 2 new designs were used.
The 500 note has Simón Bolívar on the front side, but now he is depicted from the right hand side.

The back side of the notes puts two more vulnerable animals in the picture.

reverse side of 200  BsS and 500 BsS

The parrot on the 200 BsS note, is a large parrot or small macaw.
The bird is not that uncommon in captivity, and often found as pet. However in the wild, the Guacamayo is vulnerable.
Although the picture on the banknote is only one colour, the Guacamayo/Papagayo Militar/Verde is known for its colourful, but predominal green plumage, resembling a military uniform

Guacamayo on 200 BsS/VeS

Guacamayo or Papagayo Militar or Verde

The last note in the 2018 set, is a 500 Boliváres Soberanos note (equivalent of 50,000,000 Boliváres fuertes).
As it is the highest denomination (for now), it shows the national hero Simón Bolívar on the front side.
At the back, an endemic bird is depicted. This is the only animal on the banknotes that is not endangered of vulnerable.

Venezuelan Turpial

The Venezuelan Turpial or Tourpial is the national bird of Venezuela.

Venezuelan T(o)urpial

In 2015, there was an international beauty contest in Tokio, Japan.
Each miss represented her country in a dress that referred to her country.
Edymar Martínez did this in a 'turpial' dress. I don't know if the dress made any difference, but she won the 2015 Miss International competition.

Miss (Turpial) Venezuela - Miss International 2015

Edymar Martinez representing Venezuela poses in a national dress during the 55th Miss International Beauty Pageant in Tokyo, Japan, November 5, 2015. Photo: Reuters

Currency Today : Venezuela 13

Moving on to the 5th and 6th note in the 2018 set of Venezolan banknotes.
50 BsS and 100 BsS (or 5 and 10 million old BsF).

50 and 100 Boliváres Soberanos

Again two new designs :

50 BsS :
Date of issue : January 15, 2018.
Signature G

100 BsS :
Date of issue : March 22, 2018
Signature G

Signature on 100 BsS/VeS

At the back side:

reverse side of 50 and 100 BsS

Two of Venezuela's endangered animals:
on the 50-note the legenda underneath the animal says 'Cunaguaro'.
In Spanish, it refers to two types of animals:
1: the Leopardus Pardalis or Ocelot,
2: the Leopardus Tigrinus or Tigrillo/Oncillo.

Since the Ocelot is not an endangered animal, we see the Oncillo or Tiger Cat on the note.
This animal is vulnerable and lives in mayor parts of Venezuela, as well in almost the entire country of Brazil.

Tiger Cat or Oncillo

Tiger Cat in action

on the  100-note we see a brown spider monkey.
The animal only lives in Colombia and partly in Venezuela, and now is critically endagered.
It is considered to be in the top 25 of most endangered primates.

Brown spider monkey

lovely animal on the edge of extintion

to be continued ...

Currency Today : Venezuela 12

The 3rd and 4th banknote in the 2018 series of the Boliváres notes, are 10 and 20 BsS / VeS.
Both notes have January 15, 2018 as issuing date.

10 and 20 (new) Boliváres

The design for the 20 BsS-note was already used in the older sets.

(see : https://rainbowstampsandcoins.blogspot.com/2019/03/currency-today-venezuela-08.html )
Since 10,000 BsF is 200 times 50 BsF, and 20 BsS is 200 times 10,000 BsF, this new note has the same value of 40,000 old 50 BsF notes !

Both notes (10 and 20 BsS) have the same date of issue and the same signature

signature on 20 BsS/VeS -note

reverse side of 10 and 20 BsS

On the reverse side, both notes continue with endangered or at least vulnerable species.
The 'oso palmero' or Giant Anteater, lives in the northern part of South America. Covering almost all of Venezuela, Brazil, down to Colombia, Ecuador and norther parts of Argentina and Paraguay.
Althouh its habitat covers a great part of South America, the animal is vulnerable.

Giant Anteater - Oso Palmero

Oso Palmero on 10 BsS/VeS

The reverse side of the 20 BsS note shows a Jaguar (Yaguar in Spanish).
This animal is not endangered or vulnerable, but close to vulnerability.
The latin name is 'pantera onca', the word 'panther' is derived from classical Latin panthēra, itself from the ancient Greek pánthēr (πάνθηρ).
The word jaguar (Yaguar) however is thought to derive from the Tupian word yaguara, meaning "beast of prey".The word entered English presumably via the Amazonian trade language Tupinambá, via Portuguese jaguar. The specific word for jaguar is yaguareté, with the suffix -eté meaning "real" or "true". The above languages are spoken in various parts in Brazil, next to Venezuela.

real Jaguar

Jaguar on 20 BsS/VeS

to be continued...