Peruvian Nuevo Sol Banknotes (PEN)

The Peruvian nuevo sol ended the inti’s hyperinflationary scale in 1991 and established the monetary unit that continues today under the shorter name sol.

Quick Facts

Country: Peru

Code: PEN

Symbol: S/.

System: Decimal (1 Nuevo Sol = 100 Céntimos)

Status: In circulation

Issuer: Central Reserve Bank of Peru

The Story of the Peruvian Nuevo Sol

Law 25295 established the nuevo sol as Peru’s monetary unit in January 1991, and it entered into force on 1 July 1991. One nuevo sol equalled 1,000,000 intis, removing six zeros from the previous currency after the severe inflation of the late 1980s.

The unit was divided into 100 céntimos and used the symbol S/. The Central Reserve Bank of Peru introduced a new banknote family that restored manageable denominations and supported the broader stabilisation of the monetary system.

On 15 December 2015, the official name changed from Nuevo Sol to Sol and the symbol changed from S/. to S/ The reform did not redenominate balances or alter the currency’s value: it changed the legal name of the same PEN monetary unit.

For cataloguing, Nuevo Sol should nevertheless remain a separate historical Currency page. Notes and records that explicitly use the former name belong to the 1991–2015 naming period, while later issues use Peruvian Sol.

Design & Symbolism

The 1991 banknote family restored a stable visual hierarchy after the inti period. Historical figures appear on the obverse, paired with cultural, architectural or geographical subjects on the reverse.

José Abelardo Quiñones, Raúl Porras Barrenechea, Abraham Valdelomar, Jorge Basadre and Santa Rosa de Lima formed the principal portrait sequence. Their associated reverses connected military history, scholarship, literature, archives and religious heritage with specific Peruvian places.

The designs use horizontal layouts, portrait watermarks, guilloché fields and successive security revisions. Although the compositions remained recognisable for many years, changes in signatures, threads, inks and printing details created distinct catalogue varieties.

The nuevo-sol family therefore represents both a monetary reset and a return to controlled, repeatable banknote design after the numerical instability of the inti.

For collectors

Nuevo-sol banknotes mark the practical beginning of Peru’s current monetary unit while preserving the original 1991–2015 name. Collectors should distinguish the naming period from the later Sol branding even though both use ISO code PEN.

A specialised collection can follow denomination, portrait, date, signature and security evolution across the long-running family. The most important catalogue question is whether the note itself and the official issue documentation use Nuevo Sol or Sol.

Introduced at 1 nuevo sol = 1,000,000 intis; renamed Sol in 2015 without redenomination, while earlier notes remained valid.