10 Sucre #158

Front

Sebastián de Belalcázar (c. 1479–1551), Spanish conquistador who founded the cities of Quito (1534) and Popayán, and explored much of what is now Ecuador and Colombia. As lieutenant to Francisco Pizarro during the conquest of the Inca Empire, he played a major role in establishing Spanish colonial rule in northern South America; his portrait appears in period armor with a plumed helmet, representing the colonial founding era of Ecuador.

Back

The coat of arms of Ecuador, adopted in its current form in 1900, featuring a condor with spread wings above an oval shield. The shield depicts Mount Chimborazo with the Guayas River below, four signs of the zodiac representing the memorable months of the March Revolution of 1845, a sun, and national symbols including flags and fasces. The condor represents power and might, while the shield's central image of Chimborazo, Ecuador's highest peak, symbolizes the nation's geographic identity.

History

This note is part of Ecuador's later Sucre series issued in the 1980s during a period of economic instability and inflation. The Ecuadorian Sucre (named after independence leader Antonio José de Sucre) served as national currency from 1884 until 2000, when Ecuador adopted the US Dollar following a severe banking crisis and currency collapse in 1999. The Serie LN designation indicates a specific printing series within the broader issue. The April 29, 1986 date marks this as one of the dated issues from the mid-1980s economic period.