Ecuador 1997 500 sucres

from the Mountain Groan Collection

The decade of the 1980's was rough for Ecuador. Inflation and crushing foreign debt obligations obliterated the value of the sucre, Ecuador's unit of currency since the 1880's. In 1999-2000, the sucre was dropped altogether and the United States dollar adopted. This issue honored the seventieth anniversary of the Central Bank of Ecuador; the portrait is of Isidro Ayora.

Recorded mintage: unknown but common.

Specification: bimetallic; aluminum bronze core, copper-nickel outer ring.

Catalog reference: KM 102.

Source:

• Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.

Link to:

• 1988 20 sucres
• 1995 100 sucres
• 1996 1000 sucres
• 1997 1 sucre, 70th anniversary of the Bank of Ecuador, gold
• 1997 100 sucres
• 1997 1000 sucres
• Coins and currency dated 1997
• return to Ecuador