1 Peso Counterstamped coinage

Guatemala's counterstamped coinage of the 1890s emerged from a pragmatic response to chronic silver shortages and the difficulty of maintaining an independent mint at full production capacity. Foreign coins — primarily Chilean and other Latin American pesos — were officially counterstamped and placed into domestic circulation rather than melted and recoined. The 1894 issues appeared as Guatemala was simultaneously navigating the coffee-export boom under Reina Barrios, which was generating hard currency demand faster than the monetary system could absorb it.

KM#225 counterstamps are known on several host coin types, making attribution of the underlying planchet as important to collectors as the stamp itself.