1/2 Real Transitional Coinage

Peru's mid-century coinage sits in an awkward monetary moment: the country had committed to decimalization but hadn't yet completed the transition, leaving the old colonial real system running in parallel with the new decimal sol. This half real was struck at Lima under exactly that administrative confusion, circulating alongside decimal centavos of nearly identical size and value — a situation that generated enough public bewilderment that counterfeit detection became a genuine problem in retail trade.