4 Pesos Fuertes Copper 'Bouvet' Pattern

Paraguay in 1867 was deep into the War of the Triple Alliance — the most destructive conflict in South American history, which would ultimately kill the majority of the country's adult male population. Francisco Solano López's government was financially strangled, and various emergency coinage schemes were explored. This pattern is attributed to Bouvet, a Paris-based diesinker, suggesting López's agents were still negotiating with European suppliers even as the war consumed the country. It never entered production.