1/8 Real

Mendoza's 1835 copper fractionals were struck under provincial authority during the long chaotic interlude between Argentine independence and the eventual national coinage unification of 1881. With Buenos Aires controlling the major mints, interior provinces like Mendoza were left to fend for themselves monetarily, producing locally authorized copper to fill the small-change vacuum that silver and gold simply couldn't address at street level.

The Mendoza provincials are notorious for irregular planchet quality and significant weight variation across surviving specimens — a direct consequence of primitive local production rather than any central mint oversight.