Chile's shift to .700 fine silver for this series — down from the .900 standard of earlier peso coinage — reflected the government's response to falling silver prices in the 1890s and mounting pressure on the treasury following the Civil War of 1891. The debasement was a fiscal calculation, not a metallurgical one. Production ran only four years before Chile abandoned silver peso coinage entirely in 1907, transitioning to a gold standard system under the Ley de Conversión.
KM#152.2 distinguishes itself from the .1 variety by its reverse die characteristics. The short window of issue and modest circulation life mean survivors in decent condition are less common than the type's obscurity might suggest.
Chile's shift to .700 fine silver for this series — down from the .900 standard of earlier peso coinage — reflected the government's response to falling silver prices in the 1890s and mounting pressure on the treasury following the Civil War of 1891. The debasement was a fiscal calculation, not a metallurgical one. Production ran only four years before Chile abandoned silver peso coinage entirely in 1907, transitioning to a gold standard system under the Ley de Conversión.
KM#152.2 distinguishes itself from the .1 variety by its reverse die characteristics. The short window of issue and modest circulation life mean survivors in decent condition are less common than the type's obscurity might suggest.