Beautiful coins of Central and South America.

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From LCS junk box

 

Peru, in an alliance with Bolivia, engaged in a war with Chile over Chile's claim of Bolivia's coastal territory in the Atacama Desert. The War of the Pacific, which ran from 1879 to 1883, ended badly for Peru and Bolivia, with Peru ceding Tarapacá Province to Chile in 1883.

This coin was struck in 1882, in Ayacucho, Peru. At this point of the war Lima was occupied by Chilean forces. The provisional government in Lima struck 5 pesetas modeled along the design of the Lima issue of 1880. The date 1882 is quite rare, exceeded only by 1881.

The modeling of the obverse is quite remarkable, and is , I think, arguably one of the more more attractive designs of the 19th century Latin American coinage.

KM 201.3