Catalog
1 Peso
| Issuer | Copiapó, City of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1865 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | Plain field within a raised inner ring border, bearing the four-digit date '1865' prominently struck in raised numerals at center. The reverse is otherwise entirely unadorned, presenting a stark and austere design typical of emergency or privately issued municipal coinage. |
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| Additional information |
Copiapó's municipal coinage of the 1860s emerged directly from the silver bonanza that had transformed the city after the 1832 discovery of the Chañarcillo deposit — at the time one of the richest silver strikes in South American history. With the nearest national mint in Santiago days away by mule, local mining interests effectively funded and authorized their own emergency coinage to keep commerce moving through the Atacama.
KM#4 is among the scarcer municipal issues from Chilean provincial coinage, a category that ended once Santiago asserted tighter monetary control later in the decade.