Venezuelan peso

File:VEN-4-United States of Venezuela (Treasury)-1 peso (1811, First Issue).jpg

United States of Venezuela, 1 peso (1811), from the first issue of national paper currency.

The peso was a currency of Venezuela until 1874.

History

Until 1821, the Spanish colonial real circulated in Venezuela. Between 1802 and 1821, the Caracas mint issued reales. In 1811, the United States of Venezuela (Estados Unidos de Venezuela) was declared and issued paper money denominated in reales and pesos, with 8 reales = 1 peso. The Colombian real circulated in Venezuela from 1821, with some coins struck in Caracas. In 1837, the Colombian real was replaced by the Colombian peso. In 1843, Venezuela introduced its own currency, the peso, equal to the Colombian currency. It was subdivided into 10 reales, each of 10 centavos. The peso was replaced in 1874 by the venezolano at par.

Coins

In 1843, copper coins were introduced in denominations of ¼, ½ and 1 centavo. These were followed in 1858 by silver ½, 1, 2 and 5 reales. In 1863, silver 10 real (1 peso) coins were issued, although most were later melted.

Banknotes

In 1811, the Estados Unidos de Venezuela issued notes in denominations of 2 reales, 1, 2, 4, 5 and 10 pesos. In 1849, the Treasury issued notes for 5 pesos, which were followed by government issues for 5, 10, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 pesos from 1859. From 1860, notes for 8 reales and 20 pesos were issued.