20 Centavos

Colombia's shift to billon for this issue reflected the broader postwar silver shortage that forced dozens of Latin American mints to debase subsidiary coinage through the late 1940s and early 1950s. At .300 fine, the metal value was kept well below face value by design — a lesson the Banco de la República had learned painfully from the hoarding that accompanied earlier higher-silver issues. The timing also coincided with La Violencia, the civil conflict that ravaged the country between 1948 and 1958, during which normal economic infrastructure was severely disrupted across rural regions.