10 Centavos

El Salvador's switch to nickel brass for this denomination in 1952 reflected a broader postwar trend across Central American mints responding to silver price pressures — the earlier silver-bearing types had become economically unsustainable as commodity markets tightened. Production ran through multiple administrations, military and civilian alike, with no interruption even during the political turbulence that preceded the civil war of the 1980s.

The series closed in 1985, by which point rampant inflation had effectively removed 10-centavo pieces from meaningful commercial use.