1 Balboa

Panama's balboa was pegged at parity with the U.S. dollar from the currency's creation in 1904, a consequence of the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty and American insistence on monetary stability in the Canal Zone. The silver balboa never functioned as a true national currency in any practical sense — U.S. dollars circulated freely and were legally accepted everywhere, relegating Panamanian coins largely to small change and ceremony.

The 1931 issue marks the transition away from the earlier Vasco Núñez de Balboa portrait type introduced in 1904. KM#13 continued through 1947 with interrupted production; no pieces were struck in several intervening years, reflecting both the Depression's pressure on silver coinage budgets and wartime metal priorities.