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50 Centavos = 4 Reales
| Issuer | República de Colombia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1819 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Centavos |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Plain paper note printed in black ink by letterpress, with vertical guilloche panels along both left and right margins bearing the inscription QUATRO REALES in vertical orientation. A central vignette presents a laden mule or donkey in profile, rendered in fine line engraving. Below the vignette, the denomination appears as QUATRO 50 REALES in large type, with a handwritten manuscript text above reading A Su presentacion la Cantidad de, and a serial number space at lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | QUATRO REALES A Su presentacion la Cantidad de QUATRO 50 REALES 4 |
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| Comments |
Colombia's 1819 issue predates the formal establishment of Gran Colombia by months — Bolívar's Angostura congress had just declared the republic, but the treasury was effectively bankrupt and the war against Spain was ongoing. Financing that campaign required outside resources, including these notes printed by Peter Maverick in New York, one of the few engravers in the Americas capable of producing currency-quality work at the time.
The dual denomination — 50 Centavos equated to 4 Reales — reflects the awkward coexistence of the old Spanish colonial monetary system with the decimal structure the republic intended to adopt. That tension wasn't resolved cleanly for years.