5000 Soles de Oro Battle of Iquique

The Battle of Iquique, fought on May 21, 1879, was a catastrophic Peruvian naval defeat — the wooden corvette Independencia ran aground chasing a Chilean schooner, leaving the ironclad Huáscar alone against two Chilean warships. Captain Miguel Grau survived that day and spent the next five months raiding Chilean supply lines before being killed at the Battle of Angamos in October. Peru has commemorated May 21 as Navy Day ever since.

This issue was struck nearly a century after the battle, during a period of acute inflation that would eventually render the sol de oro itself obsolete — the currency was replaced by the inti in 1985.