2 Centavos

Peru's switch to copper-nickel coinage in the 1860s was tied directly to the country's adoption of the decimal system under the monetary reform of 1863, which replaced the old real-based system with the sol. These small-denomination pieces bore the brunt of everyday transactions during a period when Peru's silver and guano export wealth rarely filtered down to street-level commerce.

The thirty-two year production run saw multiple die variations across the series, and later dates struck closer to 1895 coincide with the aftermath of the War of the Pacific — a conflict that left Peru's economy in tatters and the Lima Mint operating under severely constrained conditions.