10 Centavos Independence

The 1960 date places this coin squarely within Colombia's sesquicentennial commemorations of independence from Spain, declared in 1810. The shift to copper-nickel for this series reflected broader Latin American monetary policy of the period, as rising silver prices through the late 1950s made silver coinage economically unworkable for low-denomination circulation. Colombia had already abandoned silver in its fractional coinage years earlier, and by 1960 the copper-nickel alloy was firmly standard across the centavo denominations.

Mintage for the 1960 issue was substantial, struck at the Sherritt Mint in Canada under contract.