1 Centavo

Argentina's peso moneda nacional had been losing value for decades, but by 1983 inflation was running above 400% annually and the military junta that had governed since 1976 was collapsing under the weight of the Falklands defeat and internal dissent. Aluminium centavo coins of this period were essentially obsolete the moment they left the mint — purchasing power had evaporated long before the dies wore out. Democratic elections in October 1983 brought Raúl Alfonsín to power, and within two years the entire peso moneda nacional system was scrapped in favor of the austral.