Chile Peso (Emergency Siege Coinage) 1865

Copiapo is a city in northern Chile, about 50 miles from the port of Caldera on the Pacific Ocean. In the War of 1865 with Spain, Puerto de Caldera (indeed the entire Chilean coast) was under Spanish blockade and supplies in the region suffered greatly. The crisis lead to the issuance of emergency coinage, notably this silver one peso (1P).

This is a numismatic (coin collecting) rarity, and even poorly preserved coins are valuable. The coin in our picture was sold by Ponterio Stacks Bowers for $100 US dollars during a 2009 auction. The coin would probably be more valuable today.

Approximate catalog values run like this:

worn: $100 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $300
well preserved: $600

These are catalog values and must be adjusted to get actual buy and sell values. See our Important Terminology page for an explanation of how catalog values work.
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