5 Pesos Fuertes Silver Pattern

Paraguay in 1873 was a gutted nation. The War of the Triple Alliance (1864–1870) had killed an estimated 60–70% of the country's total population — and well over 90% of its adult male population — leaving the government functionally dependent on Brazilian occupation forces and foreign loans to reconstitute any institutional infrastructure, including a monetary one. This pattern was struck amid those efforts to establish a workable currency framework for a country that had almost ceased to exist.

As a pattern, it never entered circulation. The fiscal situation remained too unstable for a silver coinage to take hold.