Venezuela 1879 5 bolivares
This specimen was lot 72920 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Santa Ana, CA, October 2019), where it sold for $1,440. The catalog description[1] noted, "VENEZUELA. 5 Bolivares, 1879. Brussels Mint. PCGS Genuine--Cleaned, AU Details Gold Shield. The RARE first year of issue for this popular series, the present piece exhibits some minor cleaning and areas of tone, along with only lightly scattered marks." Venezuela fully adopted a decimal coinage system in 1871, with 100 centavos = one venezuelano. In 1879, denominations were renamed centimos and bolivares, such that 100 centimos = one bolivar. A crown was equivalent to five bolivares. 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'. Shown is a 1879 five bolivares, minted in Brussels, along with a suite of minors down to a 1/5 bolivar. The denomination is shown on the reverse as GR.25,000.
Recorded mintage: 250,000, the key date.
Specifications: 25 g, 0.900 fine silver, 0.7234 oz ASW, 37 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM Y24.1.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Stohr, Tomas, Catalogo de Monedas, Ensayos, Fichas y Resellos de Venezuela, Caracas, 1975.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Richard Ponterio and Kyle Ponterio, The October 2019 Collector's Choice Sale: World and Ancient Coins, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2019.
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