4 Pesos Fuertes '4' Countermark over 1/4 of Spanish colonial 8 Escudos

Following independence, Paraguay faced an acute shortage of fractional gold coinage. Rather than strike new pieces, the government authorized countermarking existing Spanish colonial gold — in this case, physically quartering 8 Escudos cobs and punching the surviving quarter with a '4' to certify its value as 4 Pesos Fuertes. The result is a coin that is less a minted piece than a fiscal improvisation, carrying two monetary systems on a single fragment of metal.

KM#E2 classification places this among pattern or emergency issues, and surviving examples are exceptionally rare — the violent act of cutting a cob guarantees no two pieces are alike in shape.