1 Peso

Puerto Rico's 1895 peso was struck in Madrid at the Casa de la Moneda under Spanish authority, issued just three years before the island passed to the United States following the Treaty of Paris. Spain had only granted Puerto Rico its Carta Autonómica — a degree of self-governance — in 1897, making this 1895 issue a product of a colonial administration already under significant political pressure from both local autonomists and an increasingly assertive United States.

The series ran only from 1895 to 1896, and total mintages were modest. Within a few years of American occupation, these pesos were demonetized and withdrawn, which paradoxically aided long-term survival rates in higher grades.