4 Pesos Fuertes Silver 'Bouvet' Pattern

Paraguay had no functioning mint in 1855, and this pattern — attributed to the Bouvet firm in Paris — was among several foreign-struck proposals commissioned during the Carlos Antonio López administration as the country attempted to establish a modern coinage system. None of the Bouvet patterns entered circulation. The López government ultimately failed to launch a domestic silver coinage in this period, leaving these pieces as the only physical evidence of the attempt.