Anyone have a some sort of list with the mintage #'s for argentino (5-pesos) gold pieces (1881-1886.) ??? Thank you and Gracias, B.G.
According to Krause (KM#6), they were 8.0645g of .900 gold, ~23mm: 1881 - 37,000 1882 - 252,000 1883 - 906,000 1884 - 448,000 1885 - 404,000 1886 - 398,000 1887 - 1,835,000 1888 - 1,663,000 1889 - 404,000 1896 - 197,000 Surprisingly the listed catalog value of the extremely low mintage 1881 is only slightly higher than that for all the others, except for the 1889, which is about double the '81. Most are listed at $90 F, $110 VF, $130 XF, and $220 Unc. At slightly under a quarter ounce AGW, the bullion value is now about $105, so bump the lower grades to BV.
There was also the 1/2 Argentino,which was issued at the same time as the full Argentino,but the 1/2 Argentino is far rarer.
Thanks much, satootoko. I know that the same time issued 1/2 Argentino is much rarer, but for some reason I have a personal preferance of collecting coins based on their old-school instriscate market values (higher the better) from back in the day. I would also like to know whether the short-lived 1881-? argentino encounters great price differentials just based on numbers of mintage, or if this is rather unimportant. Still, I'd like to obtain an 1881. Thanks, B.G.
Price differentials within a series are usually directly related to the number of available coins, and to a lesser extent the strength of the original strikes. Availability is often, though not always, a function of mintage, as there are many factors influencing how many coins of a particular date may have been preserved, and in what condition(s). A definitive answer to your question would really have to come from someone familiar with 19th Century Argentine coins, as it is very series specific.
