1871 Colombia Peso, Medellin mint

Specifications:
25.0 g, .900 fine silver, .7234 troy oz (actual silver weight)
Recorded mintage: 40,000
Catalog reference: KM 154.1

Details:
The 1871 Colombia Peso was struck at the Medellín mint and belongs to a type minted between 1862 and 1871. The coin contains 25.0g, .900 fine silver, approximately 92.6% of the standard Spanish 8 Reales, with a mintage of 40,000 pieces. The obverse features a female profile personifying Liberty with the legend "ESTADOS UNIDOS DE COLOMBIA" (United States of Colombia) and the date, while the reverse displays the national coat of arms flanked by the denomination "UN PESO" and the fineness "LEI 0,900." The Medellín issues are identified by the "MEDELLIN" or "M" mark and are often noted for their distinct strike characteristics compared to the higher-volume issues from the Bogotá mint.

Politically, this coin was minted during the era of the United States of Colombia, a federal republic characterized by a highly decentralized government and frequent internal conflict between liberal and conservative factions. Numismatically, this Peso represented Colombia’s attempt to align its currency with the decimal standards of the Latin Monetary Union, mirroring the French 5 Francs in weight and purity. The silver for these coins was primarily sourced from the rich local mines of the Antioquia region, where Medellín served as the industrial and commercial heart of the mining industry. Despite the domestic focus of these coins, Colombia’s participation in the global silver market ensured that its currency occasionally entered the streams of international maritime commerce.

This type is very rare with chopmarks. While Colombian silver was a major product of South America, the "Un Peso" coins were generally intended for internal circulation or regional trade within the Caribbean and South America. The few that reached East Asia likely arrived as part of miscellaneous bullion shipments or in the possession of merchants trading in exotic goods from the Americas. This coin presumably reached the China coast through indirect routes, likely via trans-shipment points in Panama or New York before crossing the Pacific to reach the treaty ports of the Pearl River Delta.

Notable chopmarks:

Combination of 禾 and 巳, which has no known modern meaning.

Partial chopmark on the edge of reverse

Provenance:
From the Stack's Bowers October 2023 Hong Kong Ancient & Modern Chinese Coins & Foreign Coins Part 1, Session J Lot #33483

Auction Description:
COLOMBIA. Peso, 1871. Medellin Mint. PCGS Genuine--Chopmark, AU Details.
KM-154.2; Restrepo-318.5. An intriguing example that is VERY RARE with a chopmark, the present specimen delivers good retained details and lustrous color. An example that is certain to please many collectors in the series.
Estimate: $500 - $750.
Provenance: From a New York Gentleman's Collection.

According to the Stack's Bowers auction listing, this coin is "From a New York Gentleman's Collection."

It is unclear who this "New York Gentleman" is, but through Stack's representatives we have learned that this collector has now passed away, and he had a very extensive collection. The collection looks to have been built primarily in the 1990's and previous. Some of the coins are from important chop mark collections such as Frank Rose and Hal Walls.