2024-09-07 11:13:33
In the international coin collecting community, a discipline known as numismaticsThere is a famous old Peruvian currency that circulated in the national economic circuit when, in theory, it should not have done so.
This is a 10 cent coin or cents minted – that is, manufactured – in 1899which, due to the alloy of metals used, the method of production and other subtle characteristics, does not correspond to an official currency. They know this because, according to the Lima Mintno such coins were minted that year.
Recently, a team of experts from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) examined the characteristics of this coin, compared it with 80 others that circulated in parallel at that time and, finally, revealed its possible origin, which has been a mystery since approximately 1978, when it gained popularity among collectors.
The study describing their findings was published in the journal Heritage Science in November 2023.
The 1989 Peruvian ten cent coin on both sides. Photo: Heritage Science (2023)
The mystery of the 1899 coin
According to experts, Luis Ortega San Martin (chemist) and Fabiola Bravo Hualpa (physics), between the period of 1863 and 1917, the theoretical date on which this currency would have been minted, one sol coins were 25 gram pieces composed mainly of plata (90%) and the remainder of copperAn example of what they looked like can be seen in the following video.
“Lower denominations minted in silver included half a sol (50 centavos), a fifth of a sol (20 centavos, ‘quintos’), a tenth of a sol (10 cents, ‘dinero’) and a twentieth of a sol (5 cents, ‘medio dinero’). The highest denominations were minted in gold and the lowest in copper-based alloys,” the article details.
Now, with respect to the 1899 coin (‘one penny’), it has been discovered, after an exhaustive analysis, that this piece has a slightly lower weight and contains copper, nickel, zinc, hierro y leadelements that would suggest that it was produced many years before its minting date.
Analysis of the 1989 coin revealed the presence of iron, lead, nickel, zinc and copper. Photo: Luis Ortega San Martín and Fabiola Bravo Hualpa / Science Heritage (2023)
So what is its true origin?
The pair of experts say that the coin could have been made in North America (United States, Canada or Mexico), since its alloy was uncommon in the country at that time in history. However, they do not rule out its local origin, since there were other counterfeit German silver coins and objects at that time.
According to Dr. Ortega, in an interview with The New York Times, at the beginning of the 20th century, when the Peruvian economy was reeling after the Pacific Warthe country had an influx of various low-value currencies from other nations as the government’s efforts were focused on printing paper bills to pay international loans.
Thus, in 1899, the Lima Mint only produced a tenth of the amount of coins it had produced a year earlier, the researcher points out. It was in this scenario that “Counterfeiters have found a field of opportunity”; said Ortega.
“The final question to be answered is why a coin that was never minted was counterfeited. We believe that this counterfeit coin was not made as a numismatic rarity to fool modern collectors (it had already been listed as a ‘probable’ forgery in all catalogues), but rather to be used as currency (its worn condition indicates extensive use),” the article states.
“Taken together, these data fill a gap in Peruvian numismatics (a discipline dedicated to the study and collection of coins, medals, tokens, banknotes and other similar objects related to money) regarding the composition of this unofficial currency, whose existence, known to the international numismatic community at least since 1978, recalls a turbulent historical period in which counterfeiting, despite being an illegal activity, provided the necessary means to sustain trade,” he concludes.