See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration! or register with email

Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!

2 Reales 1839

Issuer Republic of Ecuador
Year 1839
Type Log in to see details
Value Log in to see details
Currency Log in to see details
Composition Log in to see details
Weight Log in to see details
Diameter Log in to see details
Thickness Log in to see details
Shape Round
Technique Log in to see details
Orientation Log in to see details
Engraver(s) Log in to see details
In circulation to Log in to see details
Reference(s) Log in to see details
Obverse description Central device depicting a radiant sun rising over two volcanoes, with two condors perched upon the peaks, the denomination '2 R' flanking the central motif in the field. The circular legend EL PODER EN LA CONSTITUCION runs along the upper periphery, with the mint mark 'M.V.' and date '1839' positioned in the lower field. The coin exhibits a reeded border with a somewhat crudely rendered design consistent with its nature as a contemporary counterfeit struck on a copper planchet with silver plating.
Obverse script Log in to see details
Obverse lettering Log in to see details
Reverse description Log in to see details
Reverse script Log in to see details
Reverse lettering Log in to see details
Edge Reeded
Mint Log in to see details
Mintage Log in to see details
Additional information

Contemporary counterfeits of Ecuador's 2 Reales circulated widely during the late 1830s and 1840s, a period when the young republic struggled to produce sufficient silver coinage to meet domestic demand. The Quito mint was chronically underfunded and output was irregular, conditions that created both the incentive and the opportunity for base-metal forgeries to pass at face value. Silver-plated copper pieces of this type were not casual fakes — they were made to spend, and they did.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE