The landlocked country of the Plurinational State of Bolivia is in western-central South America and consists of nine departments. Its national monetary unit is the Bolivian boliviano which was first issued in 1864.
In 1902, the Treasury of the Republic of Bolivia issued a family of notes bearing the country’s coat of arms on its obverse design.
When the Bank of the Bolivian Nation was founded in 1911, notes from preceding issues that bear “Banco de Bolivia y Londres” were overprinted with “Banco de la Nacion Bolivia”. Subsequently, the bank released regular issues with Mercury holding a caduceus on their obverse design and the coat of arms on the reverse.
When the bank was transitioning to a central bank, another set of notes was issued with various guilloches. While these banknotes were supposed to be the first issues of the Banco Central de Bolivia, they still carry the name of the Banco de la Nacion Bolivians since they were printed before the new name was conceptualized. In 1928, the central bank released its first issues featuring Simon Bolivar of the obverse design and the national emblem on the back.
In 1942, Bolivia experienced inflation due to World War II, causing the bank to release notes in 5,000 and 10,000 boliviano denominations. The boliviano was replaced by the peso boliviano on January 1, 1963, which was again replaced by the boliviano on January 1, 1987. Banknotes issued under the new currency bear on its obverse a portrait of Bolivian prominent personalities.
The new set of banknotes was issued in 2018 highlighting the country's multiculturalism and all of its people. The banknotes that come in vibrant colors won the Best New Series Award during the 2019 High Security Printing Latin America Conference.
