12 1/2 Céntimos 'Locha'

The 2007 redenomination program that produced this piece was part of Venezuela's preparation for the Bolívar Fuerte reform, which lopped three zeros off the currency effective January 2008. The locha — a colonial-era accounting unit dating to Spanish rule — was retained as a denomination name long after it had any practical purchasing power, a folk persistence that monetary reformers apparently found worth preserving rather than eliminating.