5 Pesos Uruguayos

Uruguay's 2002 banking crisis — triggered by Argentina's financial collapse next door and a catastrophic run on Uruguayan deposits — forced the government to freeze accounts and restructure the entire monetary system. This coin entered circulation as the country rebuilt, part of a new peso series introduced when the old peso uruguayo had lost credibility with the public. The copper-aluminium-nickel alloy was a deliberate cost-cutting choice at a moment when the treasury could ill afford anything more expensive.