25 Centimos Transitional Coinage

Peru's 1859 coinage sits at the precise hinge between the old Spanish colonial real system and the new decimal structure introduced by the monetary reform of 1858, which established the peso of 100 centimos. This 25 centimos piece was among the first denominations struck under that framework at Lima, a mint that had been operating more or less continuously since 1565.

The reform itself was partly driven by the chaos of competing provincial coinages and the chronic underweight featherweight issues — so-called "moneda feble" — flooding in from Bolivia, which had destabilized Peruvian commerce for decades.