5 Pesos Fuertes Countermark over Brazilian 10 000 Réis 1853

In 1869, Paraguay was in ruins. The War of the Triple Alliance had devastated the country's population and treasury alike, and the López government — by then effectively a fugitive administration — needed circulating specie it simply could not mint. Brazilian 10,000 réis gold coins, present in the region through both trade and the occupying allied forces, were countermarked and pressed into Paraguayan service. The host coin here dates to 1853, struck at Rio de Janeiro during the reign of Pedro II.

The M#R24 designation places this among the rarest of Paraguayan monetary interventions. Genuine examples are few; the type has attracted counterfeits of the countermark itself.