Dominican Republic 1939 centavo
This specimen was lot 23425 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (Newport Beach, CA, January 2021), where it sold for $1,020. The catalog description[1] noted, "DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Centavo, 1939. NGC MS-65 Red. An exceptional Gem with great brilliance and radiance, and one which is seldom encountered so attractive. Not surprisingly, just two have been graded finer in the NGC census. Compare to a similar specimen, an NGC MS-64 Red, which realized a total of $1,320 in in 2013." The specimen shown was struck for the Dominican Republic during the early years of the regime of Rafael Trujillo, among the more brutal of Latin America's long roll of bloodthirsty dictators. Soon after his assassination in 1961, the capital, which he had renamed Ciudad Trujillo, reverted to its former name, Santo Domingo. The type was struck 1937-61; this date is scarce.
Recorded mintage: 2,000,000, the scarcest date.
Specification: 3.11 g, bronze, 19 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM-17.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Byrne, Ray, Coins and Tokens of the Caribees, Decatur, IL: Jess Peters, Inc., 1975.
- Remick, Jerome H., and Alcedo Almanzar, The Coinage of the Dominican Republic, San Antonio, TX: no date (c. 1965).
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Richard Ponterio and Kyle Ponterio, The January 2021 NYINC Sale: Ancient Coins, World Coins & Paper Money, featuring the Oro del Nuevo Mundo and Matt Orsini Collections, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2020.
Links to: