The Bank of the Republic

A Tribute to Gabriel García Márquez

Placed in circulation on August 19, 2016, this note is the third denomination in Colombia's current banknote family and honors writer Gabriel García Márquez, winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature, in accordance with Law 1741 of 2014 enacted by Congress.

Obverse:foreground portrait of García Márquez beside a full-length figure wearing a liqui-liqui —the suit in which he received the Nobel Prize in Stockholm—, releasing from his hand the yellow butterflies ofOne hundred years of loneliness, as well as a hummingbird pecking at a flower and a burgao snail.

Key Details Visible on the Banknote

• Obverse:denomination “50 THOUSAND PESOS” in the upper left corner, oval stripes of violet to blue hue next to the portrait, signatures of the General Manager and the Executive Manager, and the number fifty in braille at the bottom.
• Reverse:the terraces of the Lost City, core of the Tayrona culture in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, with the image of two indigenous people and traditional homes.
• The printing error:In the upper left corner of the obverse, where a single, clear serial number should appear, this specimen shows a grid of overlapping and misaligned digits —a registration defect in numbering that occurred during printing, which escaped the Banknote Printer's quality control before entering circulation.

Legacy for Collectors

Banknotes with printing errors that manage to evade quality controls and enter circulation are, by their very nature, much rarer than regular issues. Within the collecting of “error notes”, a numbering defect like this in a bill as recognizable and recent as the 50 Thousand Pesos with García Márquez is particularly coveted, combining technical rarity with the popular appeal of the tribute to the Colombian Nobel Prize.

Sources

• Pick, Albert.Standard Catalog of World Paper Money.
• Heritage Auctions —ha.com(opens in a new tab)
• Numista —numista.com(opens in a new tab)
• Bank of the Republic —banrep.gov.co(opens in a new tab)