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Paraguay (Republic, War of the Triple Alliance), cut 4 pesos fuertes (1866-69), Francisco Solano Lop

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / World Coins - World Start Price:8,000.00 USD Estimated At:12,500.00 - 20,000.00 USD
Paraguay (Republic, War of the Triple Alliance), cut 4 pesos fuertes (1866-69), Francisco Solano Lop
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This item SOLD at 2009 Oct 16 @ 09:20UTC-4 : AST/EDT
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Paraguay (Republic, War of the Triple Alliance), cut 4 pesos fuertes (1866-69), Francisco Solano Lopez, quarter-cut section of a Spanish colonial Charles IV 8 escudos with countermark "4" in corner of the cut and diagonal reeding applied on the cut surfaces, one of 2 known. KM-E2. 6.7 grams. While the quarter-cut silver coins (cut from Bolivian 4 soles) are well known from this period, the cut gold coins are so rare as to be represented by just two known examples, of which this is arguably the finer. The War of the Triple Alliance (1864-70), so-called for the alliance of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina against Paraguay over economic issues and boundary disputes and the over-ambitious policies of the Paraguayan president/dictator Solano López, is considered one of the bloodiest wars in all of South America and resulted in the loss of about half of the Paraguayan territory and male population. Curiously, in order to make gold coins during the war, Paraguayan women donated their wedding rings to the cause, but also Spanish colonial portrait 8 escudos were cut down and marked. These cut coins, however, were outlawed in 1872 and nearly completely eradicated, with the exception of only the 2 known examples, which are cited in references as far back as 1866 (presumably when they were made) by the collector and owner Manuel José de Guerrico (the other known specimen is in the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes). The host coin is a nicely toned XF, and the countermark is virtually Uncirculated (as we must assume the coin did not circulate after it was acquired in 1866), with old scratches above the countermark. Plate Coin in KM and pedigreed to the Louis Hudson collection.