10 Centavos Pattern

Ecuador's 1937 coinage reform was driven by pressure to replace the debased copper-nickel and silver fractional pieces that had circulated — and been hoarded — through the instability of the early 1930s. This pattern in nickel was part of a broader evaluation of alloy options before the government settled on a different composition for the circulating series. Pattern pieces from this exercise are rarely encountered, as most were retained by the Banco Central del Ecuador or destroyed after the trials concluded.