Owner Comments:
Peru - 1863 One Cent - 6 Incuse Lines on Rev. - KM-187.1 - Mintage: 1,000,000 (combined for 1863 and 1864)
Minted by the private mint of Holmes, Booth & Haydens, Waterbury, Connecticut.
A monetary law enacted in Peru on September 28, 1857 provided for a one-centimo coin to replace the quarter real in everyday commercial transactions. At this same time, the United States was making a transition from large cents to the smaller flying eagle cent. The law was never placed into effect though, primarily because it stated that
the one-centimo coin be made of refined copper, unalloyed with other metals, and of such a weight that its intrinsic value would correspond to its nominal value. It was soon realized that the coins would disappear quickly as the value of copper increased.
The United States was experimenting with various alloys at the same time for replacing the copper large cents currently in circulation. Although an alloy of 95% copper, with the remainder a suitable mixture of tin and zinc, was originally suggested, an alloy of 88% copper and 12% nickel was ultimately adopted for the Flying Eagle cent of 1857.
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A new Peruvian monetary law was passed on January 31, 1863 that revised the composition and design of the new copper coinage as follows:
There shall be two copper coins, the first of 2 centavos value, and the second of 1 centavo, both corresponding to the value of the metal and the cost of manufacture. The copper coin shall have in the center of the obverse a sun, around it the inscription REPUBLICA PERUANA (Peruvian Republic), and the date at the top part; on the reverse the word DOS (two) or UN (one) CENTAVO, surrounded by a wreath formed by two cornucopias. The amount of copper that may be issued shall not exceed the value of 300,000 soles. No one is obliged to receive copper coins but for a value less than 5 centavos.
The coins were to be struck in the United States and there are many correspondences between the Peruvian government and officials at the U.S. Mint. The U.S. Mint could not strike the coins for Peru in 1863 since the law permitting striking of foreign coinage would not be passed until 1874. Director of the U. S. Mint, James Pollock, did however offer to have the engraving department of the U.S. Mint provide the dies for striking the coins when he wrote:
Mr. A. C. Paquet, of the Engraving Department of the Mint and a competent artist, will undertake the preparation of your Dies, during the hours that he is not engaged in the performance of his Mint duties. That's not what happened though and the coins were actually designed by an unknown Philadelphia artist, with the dies and hubs being prepared by A. C. Paquet.
The alloy to be used was specified to be the same as that for the U.S. cents of the day, but the weight would be determined based on the relative value of the U.S. silver dollar and the Peruvian silver Sol. The U.S. Mint could not strike the coins for Peru, but did suggest that the firm of Morgan and Orr might be able to produce the coins. Horace P. Flatt described these coins in great detail in an article in
The Numismatist in 1984, but at that time, it was unknown to him where these coins were actually struck, but it was commonly accepted to have been by a private firm in Philadelphia. In 1988 however, in a letter to the editor published in
The Numismatist, he revealed that the coins were in fact struck by the private mint of Holmes, Booth and Hayden in Waterbury, Connecticut. I have nothing to corroborate that, but Horace P. Flatt appears to be a very meticulous researcher, and I have no particular reason to doubt the veracity of his assertion.
The metal was supplied by the Camden Nickel Works of Camden, New Jersey, which was owned by "Nickel King" Joseph Wharton of Philadelphia. Wharton reported that 10,000,000 one-centavo coins and 5,000,000 two-centavo coins were produced accounting for 200,000 of the 300,000 soles worth of the coins Peru had authorized. However, this does not correlate with the mintages reported for these coins. All of my sources indicate that a total of 1,000,000 Centavos were struck for 1863 an 1864 combined. The exact number struck for each date being unknown. The exact same numbers are indicated for the two centavos struck for 1863-64.
All of these coins were likely struck in the second half of 1863 and early in 1864. The choice of copper nickel composition had been a point of concern with U.S. mint officials since it was chosen. Just as the coins began arriving in Peru, recommendations were being made to change the composition to 95% copper for U.S. cents. Wharton lobbied vehemently against the change, but it was ultimately accepted and signed into law by the U.S. Coinage Act of April 22, 1864. It appears that the vast majority of coins had been struck before the U.S. composition change, but bronze examples of both the one and two centavos do exist dated 1864. The bronze one centavos are very rare compared to the bronze two centavos.
There are two known design varieties for the 1863 one centavo. The first, which is presumed to be quite scarce, exhibits six incuse lines in the cornucopia on the reverse. The more common variety and all of the one centavos struck in 1864 are the five line variety. Interestingly, all of the two centavos coins for both years exhibit six incuse lines in the cornucopia on the reverse.
This Coin
This particular coin is the very rare variety one centavo with 6 incuse lines in the cornucopias on the reverse, and is currently the only one graded by NGC. I acquired this coin in 2008, long before I was even aware that there were two distinct reverse types. It wasn't until 2020 that I did any serious research on these coins, so I was completely unaware of what I'd had tucked away in a drawer for the past 12 years.
Varieties
6 Incuse cornucopia lines on rev. (88% copper and 12% nickel) - 1863 only, very rare variety (this coin)
5 Incuse cornucopia lines on rev. (88% copper and 12% nickel) - 1863 and 1864, common variety
5 Incuse cornucopia lines on rev. (95% copper, 4% tin, and 1% zinc) - 1864 only, very rare
Sources
- Day, Thomas C. "Joseph Wharton and Nickel Coinage," The Numismatist, Vol. 100, No. 10,1987, pp. 2109-2114.
- Flatt, Horace P., "Peruvian Centavos," The Numismatist, Vol 97, No. 2 1984, pp. 254-261.
- Flatt, Horace P., "The First Foreign Coins Struck at the Philadelphia Mint," The Numismatist, Vol 99, No. 1 1986, pp. 38-43.
- Flatt, Horace P., "Authority Commends and Corrects Lima Mint Article," Letter to the Editor, The Numismatist, Vol 101, No. 10 1988, pp.1697-1699.
- Murray, Glenn S., "Exploring the Historic Lima Mint," The Numismatist, Vol 101, No. 7 1988, pp. 1200-1212.
Date acquired: 8/31/2008 (raw coin)
Date graded: 8/4/2020 (self submitted to NGC
Rev. 8/19/2020