Venezuela 1852-H centavo
This specimen was lot 72487 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, October 2021), where it sold for $110. The catalog description[1] noted, "VENEZUELA. Centavo, 1852-HEATON. Heaton Mint. NGC AU Details--Cleaned. A well struck example with a good deal of details. Brownish-red in color, this piece shows only the smallest signs of handling." Bolivar's forces drove the Spanish out of Venezuela by 1821 but the region was a province of Gran Colombia until 1830. Coinage commenced with quarter, half and one centavos of 1843. This was followed up by reissues of these denominations in 1852 from Heaton (shown here) and London. The Heaton centavo is much scarcer than the London issue. The weight was lowered to 7.5 g for the issue of 1858-63, whereupon copper coinage ceased. The last centavos were some copper-nickel coins of 1876-77, struck in Philadelphia.
Recorded mintage: 250,000 plus 500,000 from London.
Specification: 11.4 g, copper, 31.5 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM-Y3.2.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Stohr, Tomas, El Circulante en la Capitania General de Venezuela, Caracas, Banco Central de Venezuela, 1998.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, The October 2021 Collector's Choice sale: World and Ancient Coins, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2021.
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