Q20 — Twenty Quetzales
The artwork
Front: Doctor Mariano Gálvez fills the right half, set against a stepped Maya-motif frame, with the legend beneath naming him prócer de la Independencia and head of state of Guatemala within the Central American Federation. A resplendent quetzal streams across the upper left above a red-and-gold Maya stela figure, and the authorisation date, 17 de junio de 1999, runs vertically up the left edge. Serial E62876653A appears twice.
Back: A single engraved scene, captioned Firma del Acta de la Independencia de Centroamérica: the assembled delegates in frock coats around a cloth-covered table, one seated in the foreground with the document, a barred window behind. Carved Maya reliefs flank it, grey and pink at the left, red at the right, with stepped fret borders top and bottom and VEINTE QUETZALES below.
In circulation
Authorised 17 June 1999 and circulating through the early 2000s alongside earlier and later dates of the same design. Redesigned 20 quetzal notes with strengthened security followed from the middle of that decade, keeping both Gálvez and the independence scene, so the imagery has never really left Guatemalan pockets.
Details
- IssuerBanco de Guatemala — Guatemala, Centro América
- CurrencyQuetzal (Q)
- DenominationTwenty Quetzales
- Collectedon the Guatemala journey, 2003
- SeriesAutorización 17 de junio de 1999
- PrinterThomas de la Rue and Company Limited
- SignaturePresidente, Gerente and Contralor General de Cuentas