Colombia-Numismatics · Santander

10 centavos coin, 1902

10 centavos · Santander · 1902

An undated brass necessity piece of the State of Santander, struck in 1902. The obverse carries SANTANDER, 10, and C; the reverse is incuse and reversed.

Catalog facts

Reference: KM# A1 · Restrepo 375.1 · Hernández Cód. 324 · Numista N#48340
Year: 1902
Metal: Brass (type specification)
Mint: Bucaramanga (type; no mint mark on the disc)
Condition: Circulated, unslabbed. SANTANDER, 10, and C read on the obverse; the reverse is incuse and reversed. Dark spots and uneven brass tone. Photographs do not authenticate the metal (private collection)

Obverse: SANTANDER in an arc, 10, and a large C. No date.

Incuse reverse: the same legend, recessed and mirrored. 10 reads as 01.

The piece

In 1902 the State of Santander issued a one-faced brass necessity coin, later called a coscoja. This disc is the 10-centavo module, the smallest of the series, and it carries no date. The obverse shows SANTANDER in an arc, 10, and the type’s large C. The reverse has no die of its own: the blow passes through the sheet, and the legend is left incuse and mirrored, so that 10 reads as 01. It is type KM# A1, Restrepo 375.1, and Hernández Cód. 324 (8th ed. 2023), Numista N#48340. The catalogue lettering is SANTANDER 10 C. Numista gives brass, 0.5 g, a diameter of 15.5 mm, a thickness of 0.62 mm, and medal alignment. Numista lists Restrepo 375; CoinVarieties specifies 375.1. Those are type figures: this specimen was not weighed or measured. General Ramón González Valencia, civil and military chief of the department, authorized the issue on 19 July 1902. The notes place the work in the workshop of the Penagos brothers, in Bucaramanga, using rifle-cartridge cases gathered after Palonegro (11–25 May 1900). The 20 and 50 centavos of the same series carry the date 1902 and are on other records. It is not the exclusive coin of the lazarettos. Unslabbed. The dark spots and the uneven tone belong to cartridge brass. The photographs do not authenticate the metal.

Scarcity

Numista does not publish a mintage. CoinVarieties records it as unknown. The notes “Las monedas sangrientas”, already cited on the coscojas page, give 250,000 pieces of 10 centavos within the 750,000 pesos authorized. That is not a Banco de la República figure: BanRep’s coin tables begin in 1987. This record publishes neither prices nor a slab census.