Catalog
1 Peso
| Issuer | Copiapó, City of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1865 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Milled |
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| Obverse description | Central shield device bearing a stylized star or sunburst motif above horizontal lines, flanked on either side by the denomination indicators '1' and 'P' in the field. The legend 'COPIAPO' arcs across the upper periphery and 'CHILE' arcs across the lower periphery, both in raised capital letters within a plain border. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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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.