Heritage World Coin Auctions
CICF Signature Sale 3040 9-10 April 2015
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Bolivia
Republic 50 Centavos 1891 PTS-CB MS62 PCGS, Potosi mint, KM161.4. Lustrous Mint State with the usual average strike quality. The only collectible date of this rare type, very desirable in this designation. The SCWC entry for this type is quite confusing since it indicates a weight of 11.5 grams. This issue weighs instead 12.5 grams - as clearly indicated by the legend "12 G(ramo)s 500 M(ilesimo)s" below the denomination - and thus represents the last attempt by the Potosi mint to issue silver coinage to the full Decimal standard of 25 grams to the Peso. Predictably, this was a failure creating in the process a rare issue with perhaps a dozen confirmed examples. The extensive legend indicating two equivalent denominations - either 1/2 Boliviano or 50 Centavos (de Boliviano) - and the fineness is naturally the testimony to the serious problems created by the simultaneous circulation of coinages of different standards, including the debased moneda feble which had yet to be recalled in 1891. As noted, a rare and historical type, this being one of the finer offered examples in recent times.
Estimate: 1500-2000 USD
Republic 50 Centavos 1891 PTS-CB MS62 PCGS, Potosi mint, KM161.4. Lustrous Mint State with the usual average strike quality. The only collectible date of this rare type, very desirable in this designation. The SCWC entry for this type is quite confusing since it indicates a weight of 11.5 grams. This issue weighs instead 12.5 grams - as clearly indicated by the legend "12 G(ramo)s 500 M(ilesimo)s" below the denomination - and thus represents the last attempt by the Potosi mint to issue silver coinage to the full Decimal standard of 25 grams to the Peso. Predictably, this was a failure creating in the process a rare issue with perhaps a dozen confirmed examples. The extensive legend indicating two equivalent denominations - either 1/2 Boliviano or 50 Centavos (de Boliviano) - and the fineness is naturally the testimony to the serious problems created by the simultaneous circulation of coinages of different standards, including the debased moneda feble which had yet to be recalled in 1891. As noted, a rare and historical type, this being one of the finer offered examples in recent times.
Estimate: 1500-2000 USD