Venezuela 1874-A 5 centavos Unserifed "A"
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 five centavos shown was struck at the Paris mint (A). There are two varieties of mintmark, this example does not possess serifs. The denomination is written only as a weight (GR.1,250). It was lot 28142 in Heritage sale 3015 (Long Beach, September 2011), where it sold for $99. The auction catalog description[1] reads: "Republic 5 Centavos 1874-A, AU, cleaned with some surface abrasions. Little actual wear and quite scarce."
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 1.25 g, 0.835 fine silver, 0.0336 oz ASW.
Catalog reference: KM Y12.1.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Cristiano Bierrenbach and Warren Tucker, Heritage World Coin Auction 3015, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2011.
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