1 Centavo

El Salvador's centavo coinage saw a compositional shift in the early 1980s as global copper prices surged following supply disruptions, pushing many Latin American mints toward cheaper brass alloys. The KM#135.2a designation distinguishes this brass striking from the earlier cupronickel and bronze iterations of the same type — a lineage of small-denomination coins that had circulated largely unchanged in design for decades. By 1981, the country was months into a civil war that would last twelve years, and coin production continuity was itself a minor administrative achievement under the circumstances.