1 Inti de Plata 450th Arequipa

Arequipa's 450th anniversary fell in 1989, marking the city's founding by Garcí Manuel de Carbajal on August 15, 1540 — though the Spanish crown didn't grant it official city status until 1541. The Inti itself was a short-lived currency, introduced in 1985 to replace the sol at a rate of 1,000 to one, already an acknowledgment of Peru's accelerating inflation. By 1989, the year this piece was struck, annual inflation had crossed 3,000 percent, making a silver commemorative coin a peculiar artifact — an object of real metallic value issued by a state whose paper currency was evaporating in real time.