4500 Guaraníes Alessandro Manzoni

Issued as part of Paraguay's sprawling 1974 commemorative gold series, which encompassed dozens of subjects ranging from Paraguayan heroes to European literary figures with little apparent editorial logic. Manzoni, the Milanese novelist best known for I Promessi Sposi, had died a century earlier in 1873 — making the centenary a plausible hook, though Paraguay's connection to him was purely opportunistic.

These issues were struck for the collector and bullion market, not circulation, and were produced in quantity sufficient to keep them modestly priced today despite their gold content.