Puerto Rico 1895-PG V 20 centavos
This specimen was lot 10635 in Ponterio sale 169 (Baltimore, November 2012), where it sold for $7,475. The catalog description[1] noted, "PUERTO RICO. 20 Centavos, 1895-PGV. Toned with multicolor highlights and high luster. NGC MS-65. From the Demarete Collection." Puerto Rico, now a commonwealth of the United States, was a Spanish colony for nearly four centuries. For most of that period, locals used Mexican or other Latin American coins as the island has little bullion of its own. Coin shortages became severe after the mainland colonies obtained their independence in the 1820's (the island elite, fearing a slave rebellion, sided with the crown). In 1884, a number of holed foreign coins were countermarked for circulation; these were withdrawn in 1894. Finally, in 1895-96, the government in Spain issued coins for the island: five, ten, twenty, forty centavos and one peso. The bust of the young Alfonso XIII was also used on the Spanish five pesetas of 1896-99. Alas, the belated efforts of the government were for naught as the island was ceded by the Spanish (along with Cuba and other territories) to the United States in 1898 as part of reparations to recover the cost of the Spanish-American War. Cuba was given its independence, but Puerto Rico became an unincorporated territory because of its strategic location at the entrance to the Caribbean Sea. The coin is now scarce, despite the large mintage, and avidly pursued by US and world coin collectors.
Recorded mintage: 3,350,000.
Specification: 5 g, 0.900 fine silver, .144 troy oz ASW.
Catalog reference: Cayón-17659, KM-22.
- Cayón, Adolfo, Clemente Cayón and Juan Cayón, Las Monedas Españolas, del Tremis al Euro: del 411 a Nuestros Dias, 2 volumes, Madrid: Cayón-Jano S.L., 2005.
- Calicó, Xavier, Numismática Española: Catálogo General con Precios de Todas las Monedas Españolas Acuñadas desde Los Reyes Católicos Hasta Felipe VI, 1474 a 2020, Barcelona: Aureo & Calicó, 2019.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Byrne, Ray, Coins and Tokens of the Caribees, Decatur, IL: Jess Peters, Inc., 1975.
- [1]Ponterio, Richard, Ponterio sale 169: The November 2012 Baltimore Auction, Irvine, CA: Stack's Bowers, LLC, 2012.
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