1 Peso

Chile's copper-nickel peso series of the 1930s emerged directly from the wreckage of the Great Depression, which hit Chile harder than almost any other country — the League of Nations later estimated it suffered the worst economic collapse of any nation in the world during that period. Nitrate and copper export revenues collapsed simultaneously, forcing a complete restructuring of the monetary system and the abandonment of the gold standard in 1931.

The Casa de Moneda in Santiago had already been minting copper-nickel coinage since the late 1920s, part of a broader shift away from silver driven by metal costs. Annual mintage figures for this run vary considerably, with certain dates within the 1933–1940 span significantly scarcer than the type price suggests.