Lazareto 1901 50 centavos token
This specimen was lot 45706 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Chicago, August 2024), where it sold for $360. The catalog description[1] noted, "COLOMBIA. Lazareto & Leprosarium Coinage. Copper 50 Centavos Token, 1901. Bogota Mint. NGC MS-62 Brown." Leprosy, a wasting and disfiguring disease, has aroused fear and panic in societies around the world since Biblical times. To reduce contagion, victims were confined to leprosariums. In 1897, a medical conference in Berlin proposed the use of special money therein to prevent the spread of the disease. This was taken up in several countries, including Panama, Colombia, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia and elsewhere. Brass coins were issued for the leprosarium in Colombia in denominations of fifty centavos up to ten pesos. It was proven in the 1950's that the disease did not contaminate money and leprosarium coinage was gradually withdrawn. By that time, these coins were heavily worn.
Recorded mintage: 26,000.
Specification: 12-12.4 g, brass or copper (KM L5a).
Catalog reference: KM-L5; Restrepo-410.1.
- Almanzar, Alcedo, and Dale Seppa, Coins of Colombia, San Antonio, TX: 1973.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Restrepo, Jorge Emilio, Monedas de Colombia, 1619-2006, Medellin, Colombia: Impresiones Rojo, 2006.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, August 2024 Global Showcase Auction, World & Ancient Coins, featuring The Emilio M. Ortiz Collection, The Richard Margolis Collection and The Rutherford Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2024.
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