1/2 Centavo

Ecuador's fractional copper coinage of this period was produced under contract at the Santiago, Chile mint — a common arrangement for smaller South American republics that lacked domestic minting infrastructure. The 1890 half centavo saw limited practical use; purchasing power at this denomination was already marginal, and copper fractions circulated almost exclusively among the rural poor and in small market transactions where exact change was unavoidable.

KM#54 is a short-lived type, discontinued well before the monetary reforms that reshaped Ecuadorian coinage in the early twentieth century.