Venezuela 1903 bolivar

Ponterio sale 164, lot 3028

photo courtesy Stack's-Bowers LLC

This specimen was lot 3028 in Ponterio sale 164 (New York, January 2012), where it sold for $276. The catalog description^[1] noted, "VENEZUELA. Bolivar, 1903. EXTREMELY FINE-ABOUT UNCIRCULATED." Venezuela adopted a decimal coinage system in 1871, with 100 centavos = 1 venezuelano. By 1879, denominations were renamed centimos and bolivares, such that 100 centimos = 1 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'. This product of the Philadelphia mint is a better but not a key date.

Recorded mintage: 800,000.

Specification: 5 g, 0.835 fine silver, 0.2695 oz ASW.

Catalog reference: KM Y-22; Stohr-62.

Source:

• Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
• ^[1]Ponterio, Richard, Ponterio sale 164: The January 2012 N.Y.I.N.C. Auction, Irvine, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2011.

Links to:

• 1901 bolivar
• 1902 2 bolivares
• 1903 ½ bolivar
• 1903 5 bolivares
• 1911 bolivar
• Coins and currency dated 1903
• return to Venezuela