The Coinage of El Perú
Edited by William L. Bischoff.
Coinage of the Americas Conference
Proceedings No. 5 (New York, The American Numismatic Society 1989) illus.
ISBN 0-89722-234-2.

CRAIG, JR., FREEMAN. Coinage of the Viceroyalty of El Perú — an Overview.

Covering the monetary policies and orientation of the several mints operating under the vice royalty of El Perú during its nearly 260 years of continual coin production, this article summarizes what was produced by these mints and the resulting influence on both the local and world economies. (Author)

GORDUS, ADON A. and JEANNE P. Identification of Potosí Silver Usage in Sixteenth-Seventeenth Century European Coinage through Gold-Impurity Content of Coins.

The metallic content of coins can be determined by taking tiny rubbings from the edges of the coins and irradiating these rubbings in a nuclear reactor. Radioactive silver, copper, gold, and often zinc, arsenic, and antimony can be detected in the samples. Over the past 20 years about 10,000 coin rubbings have been analyzed and the amount of gold impurity in silver coins has been shown to be related to the silver source. Potosí silver is characterized by an unusually low level of gold impurity, unlike the pre-Potosí European coinage of silver from Mexico. This characteristic was used in analysis of 700 European coins minted between 1550 and 1700 to determine which were made of Potosí silver. Only some Spanish and Italian coins plus one each from the Low Countries, Germany, and Portugal were made of Potosí silver; none of the French, English or Islamic coins show the use of Potosí silver. The unanswered question is "What became of the vast amounts of Potosí silver obtained by the Spaniards?"

DARGENT CHAMOT, EDUARDO. The Early Lima Mint (1568-1572).

The Lima mint began operations in September 1568, later than heretofore believed; the early mint personnel are identified. The author also comments on the transfer from plate corriente to coins for commercial transactions and on the controversial 8-real coins of 1568-69, shown to be unauthorized but "official" issues of the mint.

CUNIETTI-FERRANDO, ARNALDO J. Documentary Evidence Regarding the La Plata Mint and the First Issues of Potosí.

The author provides insights into the political and economic considerations regarding the location of early Peruvian mints; in particular, the shift of operations (and minting equipment) from La Plata to Potosí is detailed. The author's research is collated with that of others working on the subject, past and present; a chronological listing of Potosí mint officials for the first 75 years of operation is given.

DYM, K.A. The First Assayers at Potosí.

The author distinguishes assayers of the town of Potosí from those of the mint and, on the basis of documentary and numismatic evidence, provides a chronological table of the mint assayers of Lima, La Plata, and Potosí through 1617 when dates appear on the Potosí issues. A separate table identifies the assayers of the town of Potosí through 1633.

SEDWICK, FRANK. The Gold Cobs of Peru, 1696-1750.

An introductory historical background of these coins precedes an analysis of their details of design, followed by a tentative listing of the known dates and assayers. The numismatic aspects of commercial sea-salvage operations in Florida are examined, as revealed by a tabulation of Peru gold cobs owned by the State of Florida as the result of divisions with the divers who found the coins.

STALLARD, BARRY W. The Enigmatic Sixteenth-Century AP Coins: Issues of a Peruvian Mint in Alto Peru?

The author authenticates and catalogues coins issued in the name of Philip II, apparently in Peru, bearing the mint mark AP. The difficulty of locating the mint site is addressed and in a post-conference note, S. Menzel's article in GACNum 93 (June 1989) is cited, documenting Panama as the AP mint.

LASSER, JOSEPH R. The Silver Cobs of Colombia, 1622-1748.

Documentary evidence and numismatic experience confirm that Colombian silver cob production was extremely limited. The scarcity of specimens and major inconsistencies in design have hampered research to date but recent additional archival and physical evidence have made it possible to develop an acceptable chronology of Colombian silver coins and their assayers. Furthermore, the new data including nuclear activation trace metal analysis support the thesis that a subsidiary mint operated intermittently in Cartagena, augmenting the output of Santa Fe de Bogota in periods of unusual demand.

MURRAY, GLENN S. Mechanization of the Peruvian Mints: Problems of Implementation.

The author presents an examination, illustrated by archival plans and photographs made by the author, of the mechanization of the Lima and Potosí mints during the period 1728-77 to facilitate the transition from cob to round coin production.

LEONARD, JR., ROBERT D. The "Large Crown" Counterstamp on Peruvian 2 Reales: A Guatemalan Issue of 1663.

The counterstamp of ca. 1570-1651 is shown to have been applied in Guatemala in 1663 to validate undebased Potosí coinage. These counterstamped 2-real pieces formed the principal currency of Guatemala until 1678, and remained in circulation until the early years of the 18th century. Two types of the counterstamp are described and a corpus of 52 entries (representing 49-52 coins) is presented.

CHRISTENSEN, WILLIAM B. The Pattern Coinage of Independent Peru.

A classification and survey of Peruvian patterns, proofs and die trials from the inception of the republic through the present, with emphasis on numismatically important and artistically innovative examples.

FLATT, HORACE P. Moneda Feble in Peru, 1830-1867.

The secret decision in 1829 by Andres Santa Cruz, President of Bolivia, to permit the minting of small debased coins (moneda feble) had far-reaching consequences. The political, economic, and numismatic emission in 1830 was small, nevertheless, within 25 years the debased coins were made in such large quantities that good coins of both countries were driven from circulation. This article shows that both changes in the design of the Peruvian coins as well as the numbers made throughout this period may be explained in terms of the Bolivian moneda feble. The reasons for Peru's inability to prevent the circulation of the Bolivian coins within Peru are given. The different efforts by the Peruvian government to deal with the problem are described, including the ultimately successful one in 1864 which also involved the conversion to a decimal coinage.

DOTY, RICHARD G. Nationhood through Numismatics: Latin American Proclamation Pieces.

The author examines the proclamation medal in 19th century Latin America and concludes that its rise and prominence in the region stemmed from the necessity, on the part of new national leaders, of acquiring a portion of the legitimacy formerly given to the kings of Spain. The case of Bolivia, where this form of medallic money endured until cat 1880, is given special attention.

LILL III, GEORGE. A Preliminary Study of the Possible Production Outside the Potosí Mint of Bolivian Mules, Pieforts, and Uniface Examples of the "Monedas Especials" Series.

This work presents the results of a three-directional study into the research of mules, pieforts and uniface examples of the Bolivian Monedas Especiales (otherwise known as Republican Proclamations, Medallic Coinage, Monetary Medals or Propaganda Coinage). By means of historical deduction, observational die study comparisons and nuclear analysis of silver impurities found, the author has drawn the conclusion of a very high likelihood that many of these pieces have been fabricated outside of their purported time spans and more than likely outside of the actual Potosí mint.