I am looking for information on these coins minted at the Lima, Peru mint in 1864 bearing the name of the then mint director D. Derteano. I bought this coin at Spinks many years ago as a Derteano Sol. You can just about make out the letters of the word DERTEANO on the bottom row of coins falling from the cornucopia. It is not real clear, and you do need to use some imagination...but it is there. The little information I have describes these coins as an illegal issue, a result of a massive fraud and abuse of power by the mint director, who essentially used the national mint as his own private bank........ I have never actually seen example another to be able to compare and appreciate differences/similarities. If anybody has one, or pictures of one, as well as any information pertaining to this coin I would be very thankful. Thanks, Eduard
I just found one too.... I found one in a dealer's junk pile. Does anyone have any more information on this coin? In addition to the DERTEANO spelled out in the coins below the cornucopia, there are "D"'s in the denticles above "FINO" and "UNION". I haven't found any information about this coin except the above post. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
I am afraid the information is scant. Probably more information is available among specialized collectors of peruvian issues, but I have not found it either. What I can tell you is that Dionisio Derteano was the mint director around that time, and he essentially handled the peruvian national treasury as his own piggy bank. Besides illegally printing paper money, another of the illegal things he did was to imprint his name (as in your coin and mine) on some of the 1864 dated soles and 1/2 soles. Some have only the initials D.D on the denticles, other have the full word on the coins falling from the cornucopia. These are scarce coins, but the interest in them outside of South America (Peru) is probably quite low. Please do post a picture of your coin if you can. Eduard
Hi Eduard, I seem to recall reading something about these in H. Flatt's 5 volume series on Peruvian coins. However, I'm in Panama at present & will only be able to look at my books in about a week. yours, Gallienus
Thank you Gallienus, It's very kind of you to bring this thread up again. I would very much like to learn more about this issue, but have been unable to find any references (including references in spanish). It was an interesting period in peruvian (numismatic) history, specially the years just prior to the War of the Pacific. Ripley, nice peruvian 5th of a Sol you have there. The Derteano initials also appear in the 5th Sols, but only on coins dated 1864 if I well remember.
