Colombia-Numismatics · Lazarettos
50 centavos coin, 1931
50 centavos · Lazaretto · 1931
A 50 centavos with the lazaretto cross and the date 1931 on the disc. The design belongs to that series. KM, Hernández, and Restrepo do not list that year, and this record assigns it no number.
Catalog facts
- Reference
- Atribución pendiente · no es KM# 193.1
- Year
- 1931
- Metal
- Not determined on this specimen
- Mint
- No mint mark on the disc
- Condition
- Circulated, unslabbed. The date 1931, the legend, and the value 50 are readable; LAZARETO is worn and the initials RH cannot be read. Photographs do not authenticate the metal (private collection)
Obverse
Reverse
The piece
This disc is engraved with the date 1931, the legend REPUBLICA DE COLOMBIA — without an accent, as engraved — and the lazaretto-type cross. The word in the centre is worn: BA and RETO, the remains of LAZARETO, read most clearly. The reverse shows an ornamental 50 above CENTAVOS, inside a leafy wreath tied with a bow, and a star above the value. Two stars flank the date. That is the module whose circulation was limited to the cordon of Agua de Dios, Contratación, and Caño del Oro. The national 50 centavos of 1931 is a different coin: KM# 193.1, .900 silver, 12.5 g, a bust of Simón Bolívar, arms with a condor, and the legend CINCUENTA CENTAVOS, G. 12.500, LEY 0.900. None of that is on this specimen. Numista, Restrepo, and Hernández document the 50 centavos of this design for 1921 (KM# L13, Restrepo 417, Hernández Cód. 316, copper-nickel, plain edge) and for 1928 (KM# L14, Restrepo 418, Hernández Cód. 317, bronze, reeded edge). There is also a 1901 lazaretto 50 centavos, of another design. They do not list 1931. This record assigns neither L13 nor L14 to the engraved date. The initials RH of Roberto Hinestrosa belong to the 1921 and 1928 types, under the bow; they cannot be read here. The weight, diameter, and edge in those catalogues were not measured on this disc. BanRep’s coin tables begin in 1987 and do not cover the piece. The design names no single lazaretto. It is not the 1921 2 centavos (KM# L10), nor the 1902 Palonegro brass. Unslabbed. Whether 1931 is an official catalogued emission remains unconfirmed: it may be an unlisted date, a restrike, or an altered date. The photographs do not authenticate the metal.
Scarcity
No mintage is published for a lazaretto 50 centavos dated 1931. Numista gives 120,000 pieces for the 1921 RH issue (N#7542, KM# L13) and 50,000 for the 1928 RH issue (N#21644, KM# L14). Those figures belong to those dates, not to this disc. BanRep’s coin tables begin in 1987. This record publishes neither prices nor a slab census.
Sources
- Numista — 50 centavos, leprosarium coinage, 1921 (N#7542) (opens in a new tab)
KM# L13, Hernández Cód. 316, Restrepo 417. Type copper-nickel, 9.8 g and 30 mm; plain edge. It publishes 120,000 for the 1921 RH issue. That is the design module, not this disc’s date. Value columns are not cited.
- Numista — 50 centavos, leprosarium coinage, 1928 (N#21644) (opens in a new tab)
KM# L14, Hernández Cód. 317, Restrepo 418. Type bronze, 9.8 g and 30 mm; reeded edge. It publishes 50,000 for the 1928 RH issue. L14 is not assigned to this specimen. Value columns are not cited.
- Numista — silver 50 centavos, Colombia, 1912–1933 (N#20273) (opens in a new tab)
KM# 193.1: .900 silver, 12.5 g, Bolívar’s bust and the arms. It includes 1931 and 1931-B. That is the national coin of that year, not this disc.
- Pedro Pablo Hernández — Coins and Banknotes of Colombia, 8th ed. 2023 (Numista L100183) (opens in a new tab)
Cód. 316 is the 1921 50 centavos; Cód. 317, the 1928 piece. No 1931 row for this design is cited here. Price columns and plates are not published.
- Banrepcultural — The coin of the lazarettos (opens in a new tab)
The 1901, 1907, 1921, and 1928 series for Agua de Dios, Contratación, and Caño del Oro. This piece’s design names none of the three, and the exhibition does not list 1931.
Related pieces
Other records from the same issuer or era in this case.
