Banknotes
The first banknotes were issued by the Central Bank of Guatemala in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 100 quetzales, with ½ quetzal notes added in 1933. In 1946, the Bank of Guatemala took over the issuance of paper money, with its first issues being overprints on notes of the Central Bank. Except for the introduction of 50 quetzales notes in 1967, the denominations of banknotes were unchanged until ½ and 1 quetzal coins replaced notes at the end of the 1990s.
In the top-right corner of the obverse face of each banknote, the value is displayed in Mayan numerals, representing Guatemala's cultural history.
| Banknotes in Circulation | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Value | Main Colour | Description | Remark | ||
| Obverse | Reverse | Obverse | Reverse | |||
| Q0.50 | Brown | Tecún Umán, Prince and Commander-and-Chief of the Quiche Realm during the Spanish Conquest. | Tikal's Temple I | Not in circulation but still recognized | ||
| Q1 | Green | José María Orellana, President of Guatemala during the Currency Reform that introduced the Quetzal as the official currency. | Main building of the Central Bank of Guatemala | Reintroduced as a polymer banknote on August 20, 2007 | ||
| Q5 | Violet | Justo Rufino Barrios, Co-Leader of the Liberal Revolution of 1871. | Education allegory | Changed to a polymer banknote on November 14, 2011 | ||
| Q10 | Red | Miguel García Granados, Deputy and Main Leader of the Liberal Revolution of 1871. | Picture from the Guatemalan National Assembly of 1872 | |||
| Q20 | Blue | Mariano Gálvez, State Leader of the State of Guatemala, within the United Provinces of Central America. | Signing of the declaration of Central American independence | |||
| Q50 | Orange | Carlos Zachrisson, Former finance minister from 1923 to 1926 | Allegory of the importance of coffee to the country | |||
| Q100 | Sepia | Francisco Marroquín, First Bishop of the Realm of Goathemala, and Founder of the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala | First university building in Antigua Guatemala | |||
| Q200 | Aqua | Sebastian Hurtado, Mariano Valverde, German Alcantara. Three marimba composers. | Allegory of the marimba, the national instrument, Musical score of La Flor del Café by Alcántara. | |||
The Bank of Guatemala has introduced a polymer banknote of 1 quetzal on August 20, 2007. The Bank of Guatemala has also introduced a 5 quetzal polymer banknote on November 14, 2011.
The introduction of banknotes in the denominations of 500 and 1000 quetzals is still pending congress's approval. The design of the new bank notes are presumed to be :
- The 500 quetzales bill main theme in the reverse will be an allegory of the Mayan myth of creation from the Popol Vuh and Guatemalan literature, while in the oberse the image of Miguel Ángel Asturias will be found. The dominant color will be gray.
- The 1000 quetzales bill main theme in the reverse will be an allegory of the Guatemalan roots. The obverse will contain the images of four people belonging to Guatemalan races, Ladino, Mayan representing 21 of the Amerindian ethnic groups, Garifuna, and Xinca. The dominant color will be ocre.
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Read more about this topic: Guatemalan Quetzal