Santa Marta issued its own fractional copper coinage in 1813 while the broader independence struggle had fractured New Granada into competing juntas, each asserting local authority — including the right to strike coin. The city remained a royalist stronghold through much of this period, making its municipal coinage an assertion of civic order rather than revolutionary ambition. Hernández records this type as genuinely scarce, with surviving examples typically showing heavy wear consistent with hard use in a port economy where small change was chronically short.
Santa Marta issued its own fractional copper coinage in 1813 while the broader independence struggle had fractured New Granada into competing juntas, each asserting local authority — including the right to strike coin. The city remained a royalist stronghold through much of this period, making its municipal coinage an assertion of civic order rather than revolutionary ambition. Hernández records this type as genuinely scarce, with surviving examples typically showing heavy wear consistent with hard use in a port economy where small change was chronically short.