Venezuela 1874-A 20 centavos
Though Venezuela declared independence in 1810 and fully routed Spanish troops from the region by 1821, it was not until the dissolution of Gran Colombia in 1830 that Venezuela became fully a sovereign nation. The first republican coinage was denominated in centavos and reales. After the first coinage reform of 1871, the denomination real was abandoned in the transition to the decimal system, being replaced by venezolano, such that 100 centavos = one venezolano. The official title of the country from 1864 was 'Estados Unidos de Venezuela', a name it would carry until 1953, when the constitution mandated a return to the name 'Republica de Venezuela'.
The 1874 twenty centavos shown was struck at the Paris mint (A). The denomination is written only as a weight (GRAM,5). It was lot 21963 and sold on Aug 13, 2010 at the 2010 August Boston, MA Signature ANA World Coin Auction #3010, for $805. The auction catalog description reads: "Republic 20 Centavos 1874A, bold AU-UNC, razor sharp details, cleaned long ago leaving noticeable hairlines on the obverse, now nicely toned. Rare type in this quality."
Recorded mintage: 400,000.
Specification: 5.0 g, 0.835 fine silver, 0.1342 oz ASW.
Catalog reference: KM Y14.
- 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.
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