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5 Gramos
| Issuer | Julius Popper (Lavaderos de Oro del Sud, Tierra del Fuego) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1889 |
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| Currency | Gramo (1889) |
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| Obverse description | Central device features the name POPPER inscribed prominently in the field, flanked by a crossed pick and hammer, the traditional mining tools arranged in saltire fashion over a stippled granular background representing alluvial gold-bearing soil. The surrounding legend reads TIERRA DEL FUEGO POPPER 1889, with the date appearing at the base of the design. The overall composition reflects the mining enterprise character of this privately issued token, with the dotted field evoking the mineral-rich terrain of the southernmost territories. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | . LAVADEROS DE ORO . DEL SUD 5 GRAMOS |
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| Additional information |
Julius Popper was a Romanian-born engineer who arrived in Tierra del Fuego in 1887, secured a gold-washing concession on the Atlantic coast, and proceeded to behave less like a mining operator than a sovereign. He raised his own militia, issued postage stamps, and in 1889 struck these gold pieces from placer gold extracted directly from his own claim — making them among the very few privately issued gold coins in South American history that were produced from the issuing party's own raw material. Argentine authorities tolerated him, uneasily, until his death in 1893.
The alloy composition reflects unrefined placer gold rather than a deliberate monetary specification — the silver content is native to the Fuegian deposits themselves.