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50 Centavos
| Issuer | Copiapó, City of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1859 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Milled |
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| Obverse description | Uniface coin. Central device consists of a heraldic shield with downward-pointing base, bearing a five-pointed star in the center of the field. Below the shield, the denomination inscription '50.C' appears within a raised oval cartouche. The design is executed in low relief with no surrounding legend, consistent with a locally produced emergency or provisional issue. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Copiapó's locally-issued coinage of 1859 was a direct consequence of the silver and copper mining boom in Chile's Atacama region — the same economic explosion triggered by the 1832 silver strike at Chañarcillo, one of the richest silver deposits found anywhere in the Americas during the nineteenth century. With the national mint in Santiago unable to supply sufficient small change to the rapidly expanding northern mining economy, the city took the extraordinary step of issuing its own municipal coinage, an act with almost no parallel in Chilean monetary history.
KM#1 is the sole type attributed to this issuer.