1/4 Peso Provisional Coinage

Peru's 1823 provisional copper coinage was struck under genuinely chaotic conditions — the country had declared independence in 1821 but Spanish royalist forces still controlled much of the territory, including at various points the Lima mint itself. The provisional issues filled an immediate need for small change during a period when the new republic's monetary infrastructure barely existed on paper, let alone in metal.

KM#138 is known with significant die crudeness, a direct consequence of hasty production rather than skill shortage. The Lima mint had experienced engravers; it simply lacked the political stability to use them properly.