1 Escudo Guatemala

The Federal Republic of Central America declared independence from Mexico in July 1823, and this escudo belongs to the chaotic first years of that experiment — a fragile union of five provinces that would fully collapse by 1841. Guatemala City's mint, the Casa de Moneda, had operated under Spanish colonial authority for decades and simply continued striking under the new republican government with minimal interruption, adapting the dies to reflect the changed political order. The federation never achieved monetary coherence across its territory; counterfeiting and underweight pieces circulated freely alongside legitimate issues.